BSNL plans to increase landline users in Odisha
Hemanta Pradhan | Aug 22, 2016, 11.17 PM IST
TOI illustration for representation.TOI illustration for representation.
BHUBANESWAR: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has set a target to register 3,000 landline users every month in Odisha to improve its declining landline customer base.
The BSNL has 2.97 lakh landline customers across the state. But the number was 3.15 lakh last year. "Customer base is decreasing in the state due to people depend on mobile phone most of
the time. We have seen 5-6 per cent de-growth in this service," said BSNL Odisha circle chief general manager Satyananda Naik at a press conference here on Monday.
He said landline users in Bhubaneswar are increasing gradually. Now Bhubaneswar has 83,000 customers against 80,000 last year. "We have set a target to include 1000 new users in the city
every month to expand the sector," he added.
To attract new landline users, the BSNL has started introducing a promotional offer in which new customers can avail landline services at Rs 49 per month only. Under this scheme, fixed monthly
charges of Rs 49 will be charged for first six months. Apart from that, customers can enjoy unlimited free calling on all Sundays from its landline phones to all service providers' network with effect
from August 15.
Naik said BSNL is witnessing 20 per cent growth every year in mobile sector. "Now we have 41 lakh users in the state. We add 1.1 lakh to 1.3 lakh customers every month," he added.
To provide better service to customers, the government-owned telecommunications company will install 450 mobile network towers across the state. "We will take steps to address customers'
grievances regarding different services," said the CGM.
Naik said BSNL Odisha circle has witnessed 10-12 per cent growth last year. It has generated revenue of Rs 932 crore with a profit of Rs 41 crore during last financial year 2015-16. "We have set
a target to get Rs 1,000 crore this financial year with a good profit," he added.
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BSNL offers unlimited free calls on Sundays
By Staff Reporter / August 23, 2016 / Comments Off on BSNL offers unlimited free calls on Sundays
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Dimapur, August 22 : Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) India has signed an MoU with Microsoft India offering complete suite of Telecom and IT solutions for enterprise business. This was
announced by the BSNL officials on Monday at a press conference held in Dimapur.
The telecom officials also announced that customers of BSNL will be able to make free unlimited free calls on every Sunday from BSNL landline phones to all networks in the country. This scheme
is mainly to promote its landline phone, it added.
Admitting that BSNL had suffered heavy loss in the past amounting to Rs.691 crore, the country’s telecom sector is looking forward to an increase in its revenue this financial year especially with
announcement of several schemes.
BSNL has launched new student plan of Rs.118 which allows 1 GB data for 30 days with call rate of 10 paisa/minute. The State run operator has also increased the download speed offer Fair
Usage Policy (FUP) quota under unlimited broadband plan from existing 512 kbps to 1 Mbps.
Giving a challenge to private telecom operators, BSNL has been consistently providing highest growth with respect to subscriber addition in mobile segment. The aggressive and competitive tariff
has helped BSNL to increase its market share and BSNL is cheapest in data tariff while offering 1 GB data pack for mere Rs.68 which is for one day, 1 GB data pack for Rs.198 (28 days) and 2
GB data pack for Rs.291 (28 days).
While giving out the newly launched plans of BSNL to media persons, the officials invited customers feedback and suggestion to improve the services and make BSNL transparent.
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BSNL offers new landline plans
THE HANS INDIA | Aug 23,2016 , 01:39 AM IST
BSNL Offers
BSNL Offers
Hyderabad: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has announced attractive plans for its landline customers. “For the benefit of our landline customers, BSNL has introduced unlimited free
calling on all Sundays from its landline phones to all service providers’ network with effect from August 15, 2016.
This scheme will be available to all existing and new BSNL landline customers without any additional cost. Under this offer, all major landline plans of rural and urban areas and all broadband plans
are covered,” said L Anantharam, Chief General Manager, AP Telecom Circle, BSNL.
Now, all BSNL landline customers can also make unlimited calls to their near and dears on all Sundays anywhere in India to all networks without any additional cost. This unlimited free calling on all
Sundays is in addition to the free calling during night hours (from 9 pm to 7 am) already being offered by BSNL to its all landline and broadband customers.
For attracting new customers, Anantharam said, BSNL has also introduced a promotional offer in which new customers can avail BSNL landline service at a nominal price of Rs 49 per month with
free installation and Free SIM.
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Uniform policy in the works to shut loss-making CPSEs
NEW DELHI: The government will soon come out with a uniform policy on closing loss-making state-run companies, a move that will kick-start the process of winding up more than 30 central
public sector enterprises (CPSEs) across various ministries.
A senior official with the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises confirmed the development and said the new guidelines will ensure that employees are offered better severance
packages and scheduled are prepared for the closure of such companies.
"At present, administrative ministries dither to close their companies and follow different mechanisms to work out the benefits to be paid to employees.
The new policy will ensure that timelines are fixed and a uniform severance package approach is followed for all CPSEs," the official said, adding that the termination package will be on the basis
of the 2007 notional pay scale.
The new policy will detail a plan for central assistance on loans for payment of salaries, wages and statutory dues to sick companies.
The administrative ministries have already been directed to work out a restructuring and revival plan for sick and incipient sick CPSEs within nine months of the closure of the financial year, the
official said.
The move comes after NITI Aayog suggested in a report the closure or winding up of 26 companies and long-term lease or management contracts for five firms. It identified three companies that
can be merged with their parent company.
The government has already initiated the process of shutting five CPSEs - Hindustan Cables, Tungabhadra Steel, HMT (Watches), HMT (Chinar Watches) and HMT (Bearings).
According to the Public Enterprises Survey 2014-15, there are 77 loss-making PSUs, which posted a loss of Rs 27,360 crore as compared to Rs 21,341 crore in 2013-14. The top three loss-
making CPSEs are BSNL, Air India and MTNL.
ET view: Wind up fast
We need a proactive policy to redeploy productive assets for the greater good. Many of the reported 77 loss-making CPSEs are unlikely to have profitable operations any time soon and do need
to be wound up. The S K Roongta panel had proposed sale of loss-making CPSEs, through an auction, limited to other CPSEs. Enabling profit-making CPSEs to bid would help create new
businesses which leverage infrastructure of loss-making CPSEs. VIEW
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BSNL to launch 4G in State soon
By Express News Service
Published: 23rd August 2016 04:45 AM
Last Updated: 23rd August 2016 04:45 AM
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BHUBANESWAR: State-run telecom operator BSNL has floated tenders for expansion of mobile services in Odisha. Once the expansion is completed, 4G Internet services will be available in the
State soon. Initially BSNL will start with Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and later expand 4G services to other parts of the State, CGM BSNL Odisha Circle Satyananda Naik said.
Addressing mediapersons here on Monday, Naik said BSNL needs at least 2,000 additional towers to address network coverage issues in Odisha. Currently, there are 3,187 BSNL towers in the
State, but the operator is facing difficulties in getting sites for installation of the additional ones.
The issue of call drops has shown a downward trend with three per cent recorded in July. Over 80 per cent gram panchayats (GPs) have been brought under the coverage area of BSNL. Efforts
are on to provide network access to all GPs by the end of this year, he said.
Amidst tough competition offered by private operators, BSNL has come up with new offers and plans to increase its customer base. Among these, unlimited free calling from BSNL land line
phones to any network across the country and 20 GB data for Rs 799 and 40 GB data for Rs 1,199 have been a hit.
The operator has upgraded the broadband speed to a minimum of one Mbps from August 1 with no additional cost to the customers.
The direct Fibre To The Home (FTTH) service in major cities is allowing customers to access Internet upto 100 Mbps speed. To provide data service to students, BSNL has recently launched ‘New
Student Plan’ for Rs 118 which offers one GB data for 30 days with a call charge of 10 paise per minute and SMS at 15 paise. With the new schemes in place, BSNL is expecting 4,000 new
connections a month.
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BSNL's 4G services by 2017 for Kolkata users, gets order for 262 BTSs
Public sector giant BSNL is planning to unveil its fourth generation (4G) services in the Kolkata circle by 2017.TNN | Aug 23, 2016, 09.44 AM IST
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Kolkata: Public sector giant BSNL is planning to unveil its fourth generation (4G) services in the Kolkata circle by 2017. According to a senior BSNL official, who is associated with Calcutta
Telephones' mobile services told TOI that the allocation of 262 base transceiver station (BTS) for 4G services in and around Kolkata has been received.
"We only need to have a formal approval for this project to begin. The company, however, is yet to finalize a timeline for the launch. But if all goes well, mobile users will be able get BSNL 4G
service by 2017. The 4G services will further add to our subscriber growth," added the official.
State-owned BSNL has geared up to launch 4G services in 14 telecom circles, including Kolkata, where it has 20 MHz (2,500 MHz band) liberalised broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum.
The company, which has already soft launched 4G services in Chandigarh, is exploring two methods - revenue-sharing model and capex model - for the 4G rollout. According to BSNL sources,
Calcutta Telephones will be installing 4G base tower stations (BTS) in the existing GSM sites, which means there will be no additional expenditure on towers.
Meanwhile, in order to regain the foothold, the circle is also planning to add 350 towers to its 700-odd 3G BTS portfolio by September 15 this year. "We will be investing Rs 218 crore for buying
equipment, laying infrastructure and transmission tools to bolster our existing Calcutta Telephones 3G network," said B L Varshney, CGM, Eastern Telecom Project, BSNL. The Kolkata circle
encompasses 2,200 sq km area which also includes Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas and parts of Nadia.
"We are trying to change our face. By September 2016, the circle will have 1,550 towers (2G and 3G) and we will hopefully able to bring 95% of the area under BSNL coverage," said K C Ghosh,
GM (NWO II), CFA, CTD, Calcutta Telephones.
On the sidelines of the launch of Experience Landline 49 Plan, Ghosh said, "In order to give a push to its broadband services, we are planning to introduce (optical) fibre to home (FTH) services."
Calcutta Telephones has 1.14 lakh broadband subscribers and 6.36 lakh fixed line users. In the last fiscal, the PSU giant has lost over 80,000 fixed-line subscribers. However, the company has got
back 3,000 dissatisfied fixed-line customers and 4,251 broadband customers. "In the next fiscal, we have a target to bring back 8,000 broadband customers. With this Experience LL 49 Plan, we
are expecting an addition of 10,000 subscriber this year. Doubling broadband speed and introducing FTH would also help us regain busines," he added.
As the latest entrant in the 4G space, BSNL has so far demonstrated a speed of 35 Mbps during a soft launch in Chandigarh. Top mobile operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular
have commenced 4G services in various circles. Reliance Jio Infocomm is set to commercially launch 4G services soon, which will further intensify competition.
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BSNL plans to join solar bandwagon
BSNL plans to join solar bandwagon
The telecom company on 12 August invited proposals for manufacturing solar equipment at its factory in Bhilai.
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In an attempt to leverage the growing focus on India’s solar energy sector, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) plans to lease out its telecom factory at Bhilai in Chhattisgarh for
manufacturing solar equipment.
The move is expected to provide a boost to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s ‘Make in India’ programme. India’s solar power sector has attracted a considerable amount of
investor interest from within the country and abroad. However, many developers have been sourcing equipment from countries such as China to set up these projects.
The NDA government has set a target of adding 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy projects across the country by 2022. Of this, 100GW is expected to be from solar power projects. India
has a renewable energy capacity of 44GW.
“BSNL is offering its telecom factory premises at Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, for manufacturing latest technology devices. But the interested company can only manufacture solar power supply systems
and/or its components such as solar cells, photovoltaic modules, solar batteries and other related equipment,” said a senior BSNL executive requesting anonymity.
The telecom company on 12 August invited proposals for the same from interested entities.
The telecom factory at Bhilai is a 50-acre in-house production unit of the company. It has its own engineering facility, production shops, testing labs and other necessary infrastructure.
“This will help us generate revenue by targeting the markets available in India and abroad for such products. It will also attract foreign firms interested to start manufacturing in India. They will have
the infrastructure available in our factory without any need to go for a greenfield project,” the executive said.
The manufacturing facility will also help meet 30% of the annual solar equipment requirement of BSNL. The company has been setting up solar rooftop power projects as part of the government’s
initiative to identify large government buildings for the purpose.
With initiatives such as ‘Make in India’ aimed at creating employment opportunities, the manufacturing sector has to play a key role. By 2025, the government wants manufacturing to contribute
25% to the country’s gross domestic product from the current 16%.
BSNL operates in all circles except Delhi and Mumbai where Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd—another public sector unit—operates.
BSNL’s chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava confirmed the development.
Mahesh Uppal, founder of ComFirst, a consultancy firm, said BSNL has been focusing on leveraging its under-utilised resources, be it real estate or spectrum.
The company has been trying to create additional streams of revenue. The main strategy is to tie up with private firms to monetise its underutilised assets, including spectrum, towers and land.
Other measures include adding new capacity to offer 3G and 4G services, setting up Wi-Fi hotspots and replacing old equipment in the next few years to become a relevant operator.
“It is a good idea. But the larger issue here is why the company has become inefficient in offering basic telecom services. Lack of professional management at BSNL is one of the main reasons
for this. BSNL has been facing challenges for its end-user services—especially quality of services and customer relations—which is why it is steadily losing market share. It can’t be resolved by
making its resources available to outsiders,” Uppal added.
BSNL has been losing its dominance in the mobile space over the past six years. It’s net loss rose to Rs.8,234 crore in financial year 2014-15 compared with Rs.7,020 crore posted in the year
before.
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BSNL unveils 4G plan for city
Hindu Chennai Tue,23 Aug 2016
BSNL unveils 4G plan for city
Summary: By March 2017, our 4G towers will, hopefully, be installed and ready for service roll outs,” S.M. Tenders will be floated to set up 300 4G towers in Chennai. We hope to increase the
number of people and increase the number of Sundays we work on,” Ms. Kalavathi added. Ms. Kalavathi said they had launched 45 4G wi-fi hotspots in Chennai. She said that some staff were
asked to work on Sundays to ensure broadband faults were looked into.
Telecom major to instal 300 towers for rolling out the services by March next BSNL will set up about 300 4G towers in Chennai by March 2017 to enable the public sector enterprise to provide
4G mobile services, a top official of Chennai Telephones, a part of BSNL, said on Monday. “We will also be entering the 4G space. Tenders will be floated to set up 300 4G towers in Chennai. By
March 2017, our 4G towers will, hopefully, be installed and ready for service roll outs,” S.M.
Kalavathi, Chief General Manager, Chennai Telephones, said at a press conference on Monday. Ms. Kalavathi said they had launched 45 4G wi-fi hotspots in Chennai. The department had
identified 40 places in Chennai to expand their broadband network. “Out of these, we have started work at three places,” she said. About the turnaround time to set right faults in the broadband
connections when customers raised issues, the CGM said it took about one to three days for faults to be rectified. “But nowadays, people are not able to live without internet for even half-an-hour.
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BSNL offers landline for Rs. 49
Staff Reporter
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The BSNL is offering landline service for as low as Rs. 49. It would also extend free prepaid SIM and the offer is valid for 90 days from August 15. However, offer is only for first six months and later
the number will be converted into general plan.
Disclosing the details here on Monday, BSNL Senior General Manager A. K. Sahu said that no free calls would be allowed under this plan.
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BSNL to set up 4G towers in Chennai
BSNL on Monday revealed that it will reportedly set up around 300 4G towers in Chennai by March 2017 as a measure to enable the public sector enterprise to provide 4G mobile services.
Speaking about this Chief General Manager, SM Kalavathi said tenders will be floated to set up 300 4G towers in Chennai. She also added that BSNL had launched around 45 4G Wi-Fi hotspots
in the city.
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Telecom major BSNL to install 300 towers in Tamil Nadu for rolling out 4G services
6 days ago | Published by : Renu Ratheesh
Telecom-major-BSNL-to-install-300-towers-in-Tamil-Nadu-for-rolling-out-4G-services --indialivetoday
Chennai, August 23: BSNL will set up about 300 4G towers in Chennai by March 2017 to enable the public sector enterprise to provide 4G mobile services, a top official of Chennai Telephones, a
part of BSNL, said on Monday.
“We will also be entering the 4G space. Tenders will be floated to set up 300 4G towers in Chennai. By March 2017, our 4G towers will, hopefully, be installed and ready for service roll outs,” S.M.
Kalavathi, Chief General Manager, Chennai Telephones, said at a press conference on Monday.
Ms. Kalavathi said they had launched 45 4G wi-fi hotspots in Chennai.
The department had identified 40 places in Chennai to expand their broadband network.
“Out of these, we have started work at three places,” she said. About the turnaround time to set right faults in the broadband connections when customers raised issues, the CGM said it took about
one to three days for faults to be rectified.
“But nowadays, people are not able to live without internet for even half-an-hour. We are aware of this huge turnaround time. We are working to bring this down to a day or less than a day,” she
said.
She said that some staff were asked to work on Sundays to ensure broadband faults were looked into. “There are many married people who are at work all through the week and Sunday is the
only day when any complaint can be resolved. We have a few people working on Sundays. We hope to increase the number of people and increase the number of Sundays we work on,” Ms.
Kalavathi added.
BSNL added 20 lakh mobile connections a month in the past three months, she said. “It has 11 to 12 per cent market share in the Chennai region,” she said.
Ms. Kalavathi said Indian Bank had adopted two villages in Minjur and Athur under their Corporate Social Responsibility programme, to provide digital access.
BSNL was providing the wi-fi hotspots in these villages, she said and added that more such villages were considered to be adopted by other corporates for the programme.
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BSNL Kerala retains status as most profitable telecom circle
Vinson Kurian
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Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 23:
BSNL Kerala has retained status as the highest profit-making telecom circle in the country by registering 35 per cent growth to ₹658 crore in 2015-16 from ₹486 crore in 2014-15.
Karnataka and Odisha are the other profitable telecom circles, according to R Mani, Chief General Manager, Kerala Circle. Kerala has the highest landline customer base of 20.72 lakh.
New schemes
In order to lure new subscribers, BSNL has introduced the LL 49 Experience plan with a fixed monthly charge of ₹49 for the first six months. After this, it will be converted to a general plan.
There is no installation charge under the scheme, which offers a free prepaid SIM card. It allows free calls for 24 hours on Sundays; but an instrument charge of ₹600 is payable.
Two other promotional plans relate to broadband and FTTH (fibre-to-the-home). Broadband ULD 1091 offers up to 40 GB at 8 Mbps within two km of main secondary switching areas (SSAs) of
Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kozhikode and at 1 Mbps beyond.
ULD 1045 under FTTH offers up to 50 GB at 20 Mbps and 1 Mbps as the case may be. Under ULS 1395, up to 75 GB is on offer at 20 Mbps and 1 Mbps in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam,
Thrissur, Kozhikode and Palakkad SSAs.
Mobile segment
BSNL Kerala will give a major thrust to the broadband and FTTH schemes during this year, Mani said. It has also resumed the scheme for migrating from any private broadband operator.
In the mobile segment, BSNL Kerala is the second largest operator in the State with a customer base of 80.5 lakh (78.2 lakh prepaid and 2.3 lakh postpaid).
It had acquired 6.36 lakh new GSM mobile customers from April till last week this year. An estimated 1.65 lakh have been added during last month alone.
Mani said that a little more than 8.33 lakh have ported in net to BSNL Kerala from others till date through the mobile number portability facility.
4G rollout in March
Rollout of 4G will happen in select cities in March as part of the phase 8 expansion of BSNL at a pan-India level. This will be accompanied by a major expansion in a number of 3G sites in the
State.
BSNL Kerala is also planning to replace the old-technology 2G sites (Nortel and Motorola) with new technology equipment (mainly Chinese).
Mani said that BSNL Kerala has been meeting key performance indicator (KPI) parameters set out by telecom regulator TRAI.
Quality of service of 2G/3G mobile network in Thiruvananthapuram has been certified as the best during an independent drive test conducted by a TRAI audit agency. The test covered various
locations in the city over a distance of 350 km.
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People told to make use of BSNL offers
Staff Correspondent
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Assistant General Manager of BSNL B.V. Kulkarni addressing a press conference at his office in Raichur on Tuesday. - PHOTO: SANTOSH SAGAR.
Assistant General Manager of BSNL B.V. Kulkarni addressing a press conference at his office in Raichur on Tuesday. - PHOTO: SANTOSH SAGAR.
B.V. Kulkarni, Assistant General Manager, Raichur Division of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a Government of India undertaking, has appealed to the people to make use of attractive
offers that the public sector company had recently announced on the occasion of 70th Independence Day.
Addressing a press conference at his office in Raichur on Tuesday, he said that BSNL had introduced a new offering of unlimited calling to all service providers’ networks across India round-the-
clock on Sundays and between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. on other days.
“In addition to the free night calling across India to all networks introduced a year ago, BSNL has now introduced free-calling round the clock on Sundays to all networks across India. The facility is
applied both new and existing customers. The company has also introduced a promotional offer for new costumers in which they can use new landline service at a monthly fee of just Rs. 49 for the
first six months,” he said.
Asked about the frequent outages in landline services, he said that the problem was due to frequent damages inflicted on cables by ongoing civil works such as construction of roads and drains.
“When mobile communication has gained widespread popularity, BSNL is the only company that still continues to offer landline services for the benefit of people, with 10,000 landline customers in
the division. The service is based on physical cables laid across the city and they are being frequently damaged. Yet, we are continuously addressing outage issues and fixing them at the earliest
possible,” he said.
D.P. Rajkumar, Chief Account Officer, and other staff were present.
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BSNL mulls roll out of more public Wi-Fi hotspots in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi
Jaideep Shenoy | TNN | Aug 23, 2016, 07.21 PM IST
Eyeing 100% rise in postpaid user base, BSNL has launched a facility wherein bills can be paid at over 5 lakh centres all seven days of the week.Eyeing 100% rise in postpaid user base, BSNL
has launched a facility wherein bills can be paid at over 5 lakh ... Read More
Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada Telecom District of BSNL is all set to roll out public Wi-Fi spots in a big way by the end of this year. The telecom unit will provide 1,500 Wi-Fi access points in the
two revenue districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada under its jurisdiction and more such points could be made functional based on emerging demand for such data services from the users,
noted G R Ravi, general manager, DK Telecom District, BSNL.
Interacting with reporters, Ravi said the telecom unit recently has provided Wi-Fi facility for the NIT-K campus at Srinivasnagar near here. "We are open to more such public benefit exercise," he
said adding the unit is getting the necessary equipment needed for greater Wi-Fi penetration as part of the union government's Digital India mission. "We are selecting areas where data usage is
high, especially educational institutions in planning our rollout," he said.
Asserting that BSNL's Wi-Fi roll out will be on highly competitive compared to other telecom companies, Ravi said the roll out plan in easily scalable. Past the 15-minutes of free usage offered to a
customer, the data packs are attractively priced, he said adding the speeds one can achieve will be faster than what one using a 4G network gets. The data recharge vouchers are also devised
such that all segments of data users can benefit from it based on their needs, he noted.
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BSNL retirees seek 7th Pay Commission benefits
In a resolution adopted at the 5th Circle Conference here, the association said all the BSNL pensioners should be brought under the Central Pay Commission and the benefits be extended to
them with effect from January 2017.PTI | Aug 23, 2016, 09.10 PM IST
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Coimbatore: Tamil Nadu Circle of All India BSNL Pensioners' Welfare Association today urged the Centre to extend the benefits of 7th Pay Commission to BSNL retirees, who were also covered
under the government pension scheme.
In a resolution adopted at the 5th Circle Conference here, the association said all the BSNL pensioners should be brought under the Central Pay Commission and the benefits be extended to
them with effect from January 2017.
The other demands include withdrawal of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, reintroduction of medical allowance to pensioners, preventing sale of shares of PSUs including
BSNL and so on, it added. NVM ROH
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Major private telcos added 2.08 million subscribers in July: COAI
PTI | Aug 23, 2016, 09.46 PM IST
Leading GSM telecom operators, Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Telenor, added 2.08 million subscribers in July, as per data released by industry body COAI.
"The GSM Subscriber increased by 2.08 million in July. Total number of GSM Subscriber base as of July 2016 reached 779.05 million," as per data of Cellular Operators Association of India
(COAI).
Telecom major Bharti Airtel led the growth by adding 1.07 million net new subscribers taking its total mobile customer base to 256.81 million at the end of July.
The firm was followed by Telenor which added 0.4 million customers, Vodafone 0.33 million and Idea added 0.26 million new customers.
The data released by the industry body did not include latest subscriber number of state-run public sector units MTNL and BSNL. Other GSM players, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communications
and Quadrant, also do not share their subscriber numbers with COAI as they are not its members.
UP East remained the top telecom circle with 71.32 million GSM subscribers and Kerala topped the chart in terms of maximum subscriber additions in July.
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Another telecom revolution
By The Editorial Team / August 24, 2016 / Comments Off on Another telecom revolution
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The telecom industry in India is slated to see yet another revolution with the launch of cheaper and better services with the onset of newer competing technologies. The move by Reliance a private
telecom service provider to enter into the LTE FDD sector is ruffling many a feathers of its competitors including the state owned BSNL. This new technology is also 4G but it is much faster than
the existing 3G and 4G networks and better suited for internet telephony thus making calls much cheaper especially trunk calls and international calls. Earlier it was also Reliance that gave India
the cheapest phone of CDMA technology when the tariffs of other networks were costly and so were the handsets.
However Nagaland keeps missing out on such monumental changes in the market due to many factors. Such mega projects with huge investments require favourable local conditions so that the
venture is profitable for the service providers and ultimately the people get the benefit to avail better services. Without such conditions in place companies will always look for the cheapest form of
investments with the best profits possible leading the consumers being on the losing end of the deal in most cases.
A glaring example is the mobile telecom sector in the state at present. Like in any liberalised market the choices are numerous but on the contrary the service is way below par in Nagaland.
Network coverage is lacking and call drops a daily affair. The telecom regulatory authority’s (TRAI) recent directive on call drops might be a little too arbitrary for the service providers but it is never
as relevant as in Nagaland. The problem is aggravated with the local energy crises in the state where constant supply of power to the mobile towers has become a problem. The contingency
power backups in the form of batteries and power generators also sometimes cannot sustain when there are frequent load shedding and prolonged shutdowns that in turn reduces the lifecycle of
these equipments. What would be considered as a choice for additional service to those who can afford it have instead become a necessity in Nagaland where even two SIM cards of different
providers for one GSM device is not enough.
Hopefully with the launch of the new technology networks in some of the towns in Nagaland it is expected to improve the services of the existing other players too with the new competition in the
market. The state owned BSNL has already pre-emptively doubled the data speeds for their broadband consumers and is also currently offering the cheapest data packs and has also announced
free unlimited call on Sundays for their wired consumers. The remaining providers are also expected to follow suit along with rest of the country in coming up with tariffs cuts and added service but
the only catch will be the quality of service that is still found wanting in the state.
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BSNL runs out of SIM cards in Srinagar Circle
By SOHAIL PUNJABI on August 24, 2016No Comment
SRINAGAR: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has no SIM cards to give to customers in its Srinagar Circle, where the demand for postpaid SIM cards is growing by the day. This crunch
comes at the same time as when BSNL is holding camps throughout the state to increase its market share by offering free SIM cards, both for prepaid and postpaid connections.
In Srinagar, though, the stock of SIMs has run empty. BSNL General Manager Mohammad Saleem Beigh said that SIM cards will be available from next week in Srinagar Circle.
BSNL has been providing postpaid SIMs to government employees and media persons after the government shut down all mobile phone networks except BSNL postpaid in the Kashmir valley.
From Tuesday, a series of two-day customer camps called melas willl be held in the districts of Jammu, Sambha, Kathua, Udhampur, Reasi, Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar, Poonch, Rajouri, Leh and
Kargil, to provide free BSNL SIM cards.
The camps will be held at prominent market places, residential areas, colleges, bus stands, railway station and other important places, a statement issued by the company said.
The public can get BSNL SIM cards at the camps after filing the requisite forms and providing their proof of address and proof of identity along with two photographs.
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Tabs lose steam, sales decline 11 per cent
Aug 24, 2016 |
Age Correspondent
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New Delhi
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Tablets lost stream with their sales falling by 11 per cent in April-June quarter (CY Q2) of 2016 in India on year on year basis, according to Cyber Media Research (CMR).
Some 0.95 million tablet PCs were sold (shipped) in India during the quarter.
However, the segment recorder a rise of about 5 per cent when compared sequentially, said CMR.
Datawind topped the list with its share at 37.2 per cent in 2Q CY 2016, followed by Samsung at 18.9 per cent, Pantel (BSNL) was at the third position with 11.8 per cent market share during the
period.
“Apple showed its stupendous performance with over 100 per cent rise sequentially, hinting towards an uptake in CXO purchases.
“Increased inclination towards i-Pads may help the tablets space to see a turnaround in the near future. Brands lining up for 4G foray also likely to contribute significantly to the tablets market,” said
CMR.
Krishna Mukherjee, analyst telecom at CMR, said that the tablets market has been witnessing a fall for quite some time now.
“Even the number of vendors in this segment has also declined. However, during the second quarter we saw multiple vendors inking agreement for enterprise or institutional purchase which is of
course a good sign,” he said.
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Wi-Fi hotspots in Kochi not generating traffic
Special Correspondent
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The BSNL on Tuesday conceded that the Wi-Fi service launched by it in tandem with the city corporation at nearly a dozen spots was underutilised.
While the existing centres would continue to have the service, the company would not shift its focus to providing Wi-Fi to bulk users and under sponsorship, maintained Principal General Manager
G. Muraleedharan. “It’s not viable for the vendor otherwise, as users are seen making use of the free subscription and logging out soon after. Data traffic is therefore pretty low,” he rued.
The company had already begun offering bulk Wi-Fi to corporates on their premises and areas where the service was sponsored by corporates under CSR.
The company has already begun offering bulk Wi-Fi to corporates on their premises
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BSNL to offer 3G facility in Kannur area
Special Correspondent
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70 per cent of BTS towers in Kannur, Kasaragod and Mahe to be 3G-enabled
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has begun works to upgrade 70 per cent of its existing base transceiver station (BTS) towers in Kannur, Kasaragod and Mahe to 3G-enabled ones.
The areas come under BSNL’s Kannur business area (BSA). The upgrading would be done in 792 towers.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, BSNL Kannur BSA General Manager (GM) N.K. Sukumaran said 50 per cent of the total BTS towers had already been upgraded and
work to upgrade 67 more towers was in progress. The next phase would be to upgrade 165 towers. The GM also said efforts were being accelerated to install 5G WiFi hotspot facility in the area.
First phase
In the first phase, 70 towers had been identified for the new system, he said, adding the facility would be available under 10 of these towers before Onam including four towers in Kannur
Corporation.
The facility would allow the public to access the Internet service for 15 minutes free of cost followed by paid service at nominal charges, he added.
Mr. Sukumaran said the recent schemes and tariff plans announced by the BSNL were expected to increase the customer base of the BSNL in the BSA.
The introduction of the 24-hour free call service to all networks on Sundays since August 15 and the daily free call facility from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. had turned 50 per cent of the total weekly call time
charges-free, he said.
Fibre optic phone connections having speed up to 100 Mbps were being provided at Kannur, Kasaragod, Thalassery, Talliparamba, and Kanhangad, he said, adding the BSNL had begun
discussions with local cable TV operators to provide optical fibre connections in rural areas.
The GM said the fair usage policy (FUP) limit had been increased for some broadband connection plans. Moreover, the data speed of 512 Kbps after the FUP limit had been increased to 1
Mbps.
The existing data speed of users under all the broadband plans had also been increased.
The next phase
will be to upgrade 165 BTS towers
in Kannur to
3-G enabled ones.
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BSNL launches ‘Experience Landline 49 Plan’
August 24, 2016
Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 23
BSNL Nagaland SSA today announced a slew of promotional offers and packages for the state of Nagaland including the newly launched ‘Experience Landline 49 Plan.’
Addressing a press conference here at GMTD BSNL Nagaland SSA, General Manager, J Lunkim, informed that the promotional offer for acquiring new Landline connection at the rate of Rs. 49
per month has been launched for a period of 90 days with effect from 15.08.2016. The installation charge for the new connection has been “waived off and a free BSNL prepaid SIM card will be
provided”, the GM said.
Lunkim informed that with effect from August 15, BSNL has launched ‘Unlimited Free Calling’ on all Sundays from BSNL landline phones to all networks to promote its landline phones.
“Optimization process of 3G BTSs are under progress in Kohima and Dimapur city including Kohima-Dimapur highway to attend the call drops and to increase the data sped comparable to 4G”,
stated a press release issued to media persons.
The release also informed that BSNL has increased the download speed for Fair Usage Policy (FUP) quota under unlimited broadband plan from existing 512 kbps to 1 Mbps.
“In the last few months, BSNL has been consistently providing highest growth with respect to subscriber addition in mobile segment. The aggressive and competitive tariff has helped BSNL to
increase its market share. BSNL is cheapest in data tariff”, the company claimed.
BSNL officials also informed that the telecom company has launched ‘New Student Plan’ of Rs. 118/- w.e.f. 20.06.2016 which allows 1 GB data for 30 days with call rate of 10 paisa per minute.
Further, BSNL informed that the stability of media between Kohima and Dimapur has been ensured with introduction of new equipment and working quite satisfactorily at present.
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BSNL unveils 4G plan for Chennai
Special Correspondent
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Telecom major to instal 300 towers for rolling out the services by March next
BSNL will set up about 300 4G towers in Chennai by March 2017 to enable the public sector enterprise to provide 4G mobile services, a top official of Chennai Telephones, a part of BSNL, said
on Monday.
“We will also be entering the 4G space. Tenders will be floated to set up 300 4G towers in Chennai. By March 2017, our 4G towers will, hopefully, be installed and ready for service roll outs,” S.M.
Kalavathi, Chief General Manager, Chennai Telephones, said at a press conference on Monday.
Ms. Kalavathi said they had launched 45 4G wi-fi hotspots in Chennai.
The department had identified 40 places in Chennai to expand their broadband network.
“Out of these, we have started work at three places,” she said. About the turnaround time to set right faults in the broadband connections when customers raised issues, the CGM said it took about
one to three days for faults to be rectified.
“But nowadays, people are not able to live without internet for even half-an-hour. We are aware of this huge turnaround time. We are working to bring this down to a day or less than a day,” she
said.
She said that some staff were asked to work on Sundays to ensure broadband faults were looked into. “There are many married people who are at work all through the week and Sunday is the
only day when any complaint can be resolved. We have a few people working on Sundays. We hope to increase the number of people and increase the number of Sundays we work on,” Ms.
Kalavathi added.
BSNL added 20 lakh mobile connections a month in the past three months, she said.
“It has 11 to 12 per cent market share in the Chennai region,” she said.
Ms. Kalavathi said Indian Bank had adopted two villages in Minjur and Athur under their Corporate Social Responsibility programme, to provide digital access.
BSNL was providing the wi-fi hotspots in these villages, she said and added that more such villages were considered to be adopted by other corporates.
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BSNL on a mission; to conduct melas to increase customer base
Special Correspondent
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Aiming to increase customer base, the Bharath Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Karimnagar district unit, has decided to conduct mega melas at places across the district and distribute free SIM
cards to customers on Wednesday.
Disclosing this to newsmen here on Tuesday, DGM (planning) V. Pitchaiah said they have a target of making 5,000 new consumers enrol by providing free SIM cards on the spot during mega
melas. He said during the earlier mega mela, the BSNL Karimnagar district topped in the State with highest distribution of more than 5,000 SIM cards. Explaining their expansion programme, he
said they were planning to provide 3G data signal in all the mandals soon.
Stating that the BSNL had over 1.6 lakh landline phone connections in the district before the advent of cellular phone, he said landline connections have now come down to 20,000 and pre-paid
cellular connections to 3.8 lakh while post-paid connections to 22,000. He said they were taking all measures to bring back the landline telephone consumers to BSNL fold and announced
Experience LL-49 landline plan with monthly rental of only Rs. 49 up to six months.
He said that the BSNL had also announced ULD-470 broadband plan with 2 Mbps speed having additional facilities such as unlimited free calling to any network on all Sundays and from 9 p.m. to
7 a.m. on all other days. He also said they would soon introduce 4G network in Karimnagar district. DGM (finance) V. Rambabu, AGM (admn) M. Narsaiah, AGM (marketing) Ravindranath and
others were also present.
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BSNL mega mela on Aug. 30
Special Correspondent
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Buoyed by the overwhelming response to the last mega mela for distribution of free BSNL SIM, the public sector telecom service provider is coming out with another mela on August 30.
Over 7,000 SIMs were distributed on a single day in Visakhapatnam Telecom District during the mega mela held in July. “Visakhapatnam secured 7{+t}{+h}place at the All-India level in the
distribution of free SIMs and we are geared for the next round of free SIM distribution and are optimistic of a similar response”, Senior General Manager Nalini Verma told the media here on
Tuesday.
BNSL has introduced several innovative schemes for the promotion of landline services. The ‘LL 49’ plan, introduced during the recent Independence Day, was intended to draw new landline
customers. Under this plan, new customers would have to pay fixed monthly charges of Rs.49 for the first six months after which their number would be converted to the General Plan.
There would be no free calls under this plan and the call charges to BSNL network would be Re.1 and to other networks Re.1.20 per unit. There would be no installation charges. The subscribers
under this plan would also enjoy the free night calling facility and free calling on Sundays, like other BSNL landline subscribers.
Broadband speed
The speed for all broadband connections, after reaching the maximum speed limit (FUP), would be 1 Mbps, instead of 512 Kbps. The upgradation was done to enhance customer experience. A
new landline plus broadband combo plan (Plan 470), introduced last month, would enable broadband users to get a rent-free landline connection for Rs.470 a month.
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BSNL to launch 4G services in Odisha: Report
by: Anil Satapathy, The Mobile Indian,New Delhi | Last Updated: Wednesday, August 24, 2016 - 10:51
Airtel and Idea have recently expanded their 4G footprint in Odisha.
State run telecom operator, BSNL will roll out its 4G services in Odisha soon, according to a report of New Indian Express.
"Initially BSNL will start with Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and later expand 4G services to other parts of the State," CGM BSNL Odisha Circle Satyananda Naik was quoted as saying in the report.
Idea and Airtel had rolled out 4G services in the eastern state earlier this year. Airtel 4G services are available in eight towns of the state including Jharsuguda, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Balasore,
Rourkela, Brahmapur, Sambalpur and Puri. Idea's 4G services are available in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Baleswar, Jharsuguda, Jatni, Khurda, Sambalpur, Brahmapur, Rourkela, Bhadrak,
Rajagangpur, and Sundargarh.
Recently, BSNL announced some attractive schemes to increase its customer base. It has recently introduced free unlimited calling from BSNL landline to any landline and mobile network of any
service provider on Sundays on pan India basis starting August 15. As per reports, it has also recently upgraded its minimum broadband speed to one Mbps.
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BSNL to launch 4G services in Kerala by March 2017
As a part of BSNL’s expansion at the Phase-8 pan-India level, Kerala will be equipped with BSNL’s 4G services by March 2017. A total of 663 4G towers will be installed and initiatives to expand
2G and 3G services are also in the works.
By PTI on Aug 24, 2016 at 10:45 AM
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Tags: 4G BSNL
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mobile-phone
BSNL is gearing up to offer 4G services in Kerala by March 2017, a company official said. The 4G plan would be introduced as part of BSNL’s expansion at the Phase-8 pan-India level and a
tender for it has already been called for, the official added. A set of 190 new Wi-Fi access points would also be implemented in the state circle during the current financial year. “4G will be
introduced in select cities in Kerala circle by next March. As part of this, 663 4G towers will be installed,” BSNL Chief General Manager, Kerala Circle, R Mani told reporters. Mani further said that
besides introduction of 4G, initiatives to expand the existing 2G and 3G services are also in the offing.
Detailing the Phase-8 expansion plans in the circle, Mani elaborated, “Another 1,083 new 3G sites will be launched in the state. All old technology 2G sites will be replaced with new technology 2G
sites.” BSNL claims that its 3G speed is much faster than the 4G services offered by many private players. On Wi-Fi service expansion, Mani said that BSNL’s Kerala circle has implemented 160
Wi-Fi access points at 93 locations and another 190 points will be implemented during the current financial year.
All these sites are MDO (mobile date offloading) enabled that gives Wi-Fi access to mobile customers. He said that for BSNL, Kerala is the highest profit making circle in the country with a profit
of Rs 658 crore in 2015-16, against Rs 486 crore during 2014-15, a growth of over 35 percent. To stimulate growth in landlines, BSNL announced new plans and offers like unlimited Night Free
calls and unlimited calls on Sundays.
“In order to encourage new subscribers and bring back our old customers who switched to other players, we have introduced the LL49 Experience plan with a fixed monthly charge of just Rs 49 for
the first six months,” he said adding BSNL SIM card is also offered free to customers subscribing to this plan. BSNL Kerala circle has a mobile customer base of 80.5 lakh including 78.2 lakh
pre-paid and 2.3 lakh post-paid ones. Its landline customer base is 20.72 lakh and total broadband connection is 6.60 lakh.
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This BSNL call centre diverts calls from 112 to police control room
5 days ago | Published by : Renu Ratheesh
This-BSNL-call-centre-diverts-calls-from-112-to-police-control-room---indialivetoday
Bangalore, August 24: Dial 100 in an emergency! But these days, it seems the emergency could be anything from barking dogs to personal woes, and the ones confused by the flood of calls are
the city police.
Over the past three months, the Bengaluru police control room has been flooded with callers asking about mobile recharge options and other civic-related issues.
Blame it on the new emergency universal number (112), which was started as a pilot project in the city, reports thehindu.com.
Robin Poddar, General Manager, BSNL (IT, Grievance Management) admitted that there is a problem. The BSNL call centre is diverting all calls from 112 to the police control room instead of to
the department concerned.
On an average, the police control room gets 40,000 calls a day, but over the last few months, 17,000 are about unrelated issues. “Every distress call takes at least 15 minutes to resolve, as we
also keep track of the patrolling Hoysala vehicles.
But nowadays, I’m getting calls about choked drains,” said one control command centre staffer. The city police command centre has shot off a letter to BSNL, their service provider, to withdraw the
pilot project until the problems are ironed out. “We have raised the issue with BSNL twice.
Now, we have written to them warning that we will find a new service provider it it’s not rectified,” said M. G. Nagendra Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (command centre).
Mr. Poddar told The Hindu that the matter has been communicated to higher-ups, as it has to be taken up with the home ministry.
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BSNL raises minimum broadband speed to 1Mbps post data usage
Love browsing the World Wide Web at blazing speeds, but fret when the speed drops once you have crossed the data limit?Jaideep Shenoy | TNN | Aug 25, 2016, 09.00 AM IST
Newsletter
A A
MANGALURU: Love browsing the World Wide Web at blazing speeds, but fret when the speed drops once you have crossed the data limit? Fret not! With TRAI recommending 2mbps as
minimum broadband speed and Centre too looking to mandate a four-fold increase in minimum broadband speed - from 512 kbps to 2 mbps, state owned Telecom Company BSNL has already
made the move by pegging the minimum broadband speed post data usage limit to 1mbps.
Incidentally, Karnataka circle of BSNL offers 15 landline broadband plans to suit the diverse usage needs of its customers - both in terms of data downloads and speed - with monthly charges
ranging from minimum of Rs 699 to maximum of Rs 3,445. Hitherto, the speed offered dropped to 512 kbps once the consumer had exceeded the prescribed limit or was required to top up to get
the same speed as per their plan for rest of the duration during a particular billing cycle.
But signaling a change and in sync with the NDA government's vision of Digital India, BSNL has since pegged the minimum speed post data usage at 1mbps, which users know is any day better
than the painfully download speed of 512 kbps. Incidentally, the last time minimum internet speed was revised was in August 2014 when it was doubled from 256 kbps to 512 kbps. "This move will
certainly ensure better customer retention," avers G R Ravi, GM, DK telecom district.
The telecom district is also shifting its focus from providing landline broadband using copper wire infrastructure to Fiber to the Home mode. FTTH incidentally is delivery of communications signal
over optical fiber from operator's switching equipment all the way to a home or business, thereby replacing existing copper infrastructure such as telephone wires and coaxial cable. "This will
ensure better speeds and reliable broadband connection to consumers," Ravi pointed.
There is no limit to (broad band) speed using FTTH, Ravi said adding the telecom district which has already provided 3,000 such connections in the two revenue districts of Udupi and Dakshina
Kannada that come under its jurisdiction, has plans to provide additional 6,000 FTTH connections. "The speed drops with distance from the telephone exchange when copper infrastructure is
used," he said adding the district is making a conscious move towards FTTH connections.
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BSNL offers 100% more data for same price on select pack
These offers will be available by August 25.Aug 24, 2016, 06.09 PM IST
Newsletter
A A
By: Bhagyashree Nair
New Delhi: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has doubled data usage limits of its Rs549 data pack to 10 GB from 5 GB data with validity of 30 days, a 100% increase in data benefits to
subscribers.
It also announced the launch of unlimited 3G Data pack without any speed restrictions for all prepaid mobile customers for just Rs 1099 with validity of 30 days, claiming that it is a first of its kind
occurrence in the telecom industry.
BSNL also launched a cost effective pack of Rs. 156, which offers 2 GB data for 10 days.
These offers will be available by August 25.
R.K.Mittal, Director of the BSNL Board, said that the company hopes to serve data customers by massively reducing data tariff and by introducing unlimited data packs.
"The offer is unique and the sole purpose is to enable every section of the society with high speed Internet at affordable prices. Last year, BSNL had also facilitated the customer by offering 80%
cheaper voice tariff," he said.
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BSNL makes data cheaper by 100%
After the top three private telecom operators made data tariffs cheaper by 67 per cent, it’s the turn of state-run BSNL to reduce rates by up to 100 per cent.
The move by the operators is to protect their turf against the imminent entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm and also increase data consumption.
BSNL, which has been staging a turnaround with additions of customers in the last few months, is taking a slew of customer-centric initiatives to become more competitive.
BSNL has doubled data usages of its popular data special tariff voucher (STV) to 10 GB. Earlier it provided 5 GB data for the same price of Rs 549, with validity for one month (30 days).
It is equivalent to 100 per cent increase in data benefits to subscribers.
In addition, the company has also announced the launch of unlimited 3G data STV without any speed restrictions for all prepaid mobile customers for Rs 1,099 with validity of one month (30 days),
which is a first of its kind in the telecom sector.
Another new data STV of Rs 156 has also been launched. It provides 2 GB data for 10 days. These offers will be available across the country effective from 25 August.
“The BSNL offer is unique and its sole purpose is to enable every section of the society with high-speed internet at affordable prices. Last year, BSNL had also facilitated the customer by offering
80 per cent cheaper voice tariff,” said RK Mittal director, BSNL.
Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm has announced it would launch commercial fourth-generation technology (4G) services soon. Analysts have said data rates are expected to fall 15
-20 per cent with the entry of Jio
Jio has said it already has under its preview offer about 1.5 million test-users, with average monthly consumption of each in excess of 26 GB; voice usage is 355 minutes.
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BSNL bid to retain landline users in TN
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Meets nearly 50,000 customers under its Nalandaana programme
Chennai, August 24:
In a bid to stop customers from surrendering their telephone landlines, officials of BSNL Tamil Nadu are visiting them at their doorsteps to understand the problems faced by them, and rectify them
immediately.
As part of its Meet and Greet ‘Nalandhaana’ (Are you fine? in Tamil) programme launched on July 1, officials have met nearly 50,000 customers across the circle — Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,
excluding Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram.
N Poonguzhali, Chief General Manager, BSNL Tamil Nadu Circle, told newsperons that last financial year, around 1.20 lakh land line customers left BSNL while the addition was around 2.40 lakh.
“Meeting customers at their homes will be a continuous exercise to improve our service and understand their problems,” she said.
Poonguzhali said those who surrendered their landline did so due to quality of services and shifting to mobile services. “Even in villages, people prefer mobile phone over landline. We have
embarked on a major confidence building exercise to retain existing customers and add new customers,” she said.
BSNL had introduced free night calls from 9 pm to 7 am to any network for landline customers. In addition, from August 15, it has announced Sunday Unlimited Free calling from BSNL landline to
any network across the country. This will enable landline customers to continuously stay in touch with their friends and relatives for 34 hours — from Saturday 9 pm to Monday 7 am, she said.
Other initiatives
The other other major initiatives include a new landline scheme for ₹49 per month as fixed monthly charge for a limited period of three months with no installation charges and upward revision of
download speed after Fair Usage Plan.
For mobile customers, BSNL is offering an unlimited free data usage without speed restriction. This is valid for 30 days at ₹1,099, she said.
Poonguzhali said in Tamil Nadu circle, 62 locations have been provided with Wi-Fi hotspots with 102 access points, and plans to add another 200 by September. For the first 15 minutes, Wi-Fi is
free, and thereafter, it is chargeable, she said.
Rise in profit
Last financial year, BSNL Tamil Nadu circle earned an operating profit of ₹82.31 crore as against ₹51.39 crore in the previous year. Revenue saw a 3 per cent growth to ₹2,055 crore. In the first
quarter this year, the circle has reported a 3.8 per cent growth in revenue to ₹480 crore, she said.
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BSNL identifies 63 places to introduce Wi-Fi hotspots in Belagavi
TOI Hubli Wed,24 Aug 2016
BSNL identifies 63 places to introduce Wi-Fi hotspots in Belagavi
Summary: BELAGAVI: Bharatiya Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has identified 63 places to install Wi-Fi Hotspots in Belagavi district in which 43 are in city.Addressing the press conference
here on Wednesday, Deepak Tayal, senior general manager of BSNL said four Wi-Fi Hotspots will be introduced within short period under MP fund. Since the up-gradation, total internet data
consumption in Belagavi district has been increased by 20%. Already 171 GPs have been commissioned especially in Bailhongal, Belagavi and Khanapur taluks. BSNL is also offering free
prepaid sim card along with this plan. This apart, BSNL has introduced 'unlimited free calls (24 hours)' on Sundays to any operating company within India besides 'unlimited free night calls'
scheme from 9pm to 7am every day.
BELAGAVI: Bharatiya Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has identified 63 places to install Wi-Fi Hotspots in Belagavi district in which 43 are in city.Addressing the press conference here on
Wednesday, Deepak Tayal, senior general manager of BSNL said four Wi-Fi Hotspots will be introduced within short period under MP fund. The places are - railway station and central bus
terminus of Belagavi, government degree colleges in KK Kopp in Belagavi taluk and another government degree college at Ramdurg.As a part of Digital India Programme, BSNL is laying optical
fibre cable under National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project in entire Belagavi district to provide high-speed broadband service through FTTH technology connecting all 485 gram
panchayats. Already 171 GPs have been commissioned especially in Bailhongal, Belagavi and Khanapur taluks.
There are new 35 villages upgraded as GPs recently and optical fibre cable will be extended to all those new GPs, officer added.As far as concerned to providing quality internet services to
customers, all 106 Base Transceiver Centres (BTS) in the district have been upgraded to 3G from 2G network recently. Since the up-gradation, total internet data consumption in Belagavi district
has been increased by 20%. "We are also focussing on improving the quality and BSNL share in the telecom market", Tayal said.He highlighted the Plan 49 introduced for new landline customers
under which customers avail new landline connection by paying fixed monthly charges of just Rs 49 for first six months.
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BSNL cuts mobile data rates
Thursday, 25 August 2016 | PNS
0
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has doubled data usage of its popular data STV to 10 GB, which was earlier providing 5 GB data in the same cost for just Rs549 with validity of one
month. It is equivalent to 100% increase in data benefits to subscribers.
In addition, BSNL has also announced the launch of Unlimited 3G Data STV wthout any speed restrictions for all prepaid mobile customers for just Rs1,099 with validity of one month. This is first of
its kind in the telecom industry. BSNL is leading in mobile service initiatives by giving unlimited data tariff without keeping any speed restriction by introducing new data STVs in Indian market.
The director (CM) BSNL board, Mr R.K.Mittal, said “The BSNL offer is unique and the sole purpose is to enable every section of the society with high speed Internet at affordable prices. By
massive reduction in data tariff and introduction of unlimited data STVs, BSNL hopes to serve data customers, mainly the youth segment, in a much better way.”pns
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BSNL joins data war, slashes rates and doubles usage
By ENS Economic Bureau
Published: 25th August 2016 03:29 AM
Last Updated: 25th August 2016 03:29 AM
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NEW DELHI: State-run BSNL has joined the data war being fought across the telecome sector by cutting 3G data plan rates, doubling usage limits for certain plans and announcing a national
unlimited 3G mobile data plan for Rs 1,099 on Wednesday.
“Due to improvement in network, BSNL has been gaining customers. We are now first in the industry to offer unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1,099 without reduction in speed. This will rejoice our
customers and help them experience improved BSNL networks,” BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said.
BSNL has also has doubled data usage in Rs 549 plan for 3G service to 10 GB from 5 GB in order to counter private telecom operators’ strategy of slashing data rates by up to 67 per cent. “The
plan has validity of 30 days and is equivalent to 100 per cent increase in data benefits to subscribers,” Shrivastava said. The telecom firm has also increased by 100 per cent 3G data usage in its
Rs 156 plan to 2 GB, valid for 10 days.
“Last year, BSNL had also facilitated the customer by offering 80 per cent cheaper voice tariff. By massive reduction in data tariff and introduction of unlimited data STVs (Special Tariff Vouchers),
BSNL hopes to serve data customers, mainly the youth segment in a much better way,” BSNL Board Director (CM) RK Mittal said.
In July, private telecom majors like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular increased their data benefits to customers on almost all 3G/4G plans by up to 67 per cent to counter the threat from
Reliance Jio.
BSNL meanwhile, has added the most number of subscribers in April for a third month in a row, as per data released by telecom regulator Trai. Growth in mobile segment in April was led by BSNL
which added 11.39 lakh subscribers followed by Bharti Airtel (9.78 lakh), Aircel (5.72 lakh), Reliance Communications (1.1 lakh), Vodafone (46,600), Quadrant (Videocon group firm - 25,012) and
MTNL (11,591).
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BSNL to launch two new schemes to attract customers
Staff Correspondent
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Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. has decided to introduce two new schemes to increase its landline connectivity.
R.H. Kai, Deputy General Manager, Bagalkot division, told presspersons that under ‘Plan 49’, new landline connections could be taken by paying Rs. 49 a month for the first six months.
Free calls
Under another scheme, existing and new subscribers would be allowed to make free calls to mobile or landline numbers any where in the country for free on Sundays. “Earlier, subscribers were
offered free unlimited phone calls from their landline numbers between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. every day. This is an extension of that scheme,” he said.
Subscriber base
Mr. Kai, however, admitted that the subscriber base in Vijayapura and Bagalkot districts had reduced by around 2,000 this year.
From next year, BSNL is planning to introduce 4G facility for mobile operators, he added.
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BSNL launches unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1,099
— By PTI | Aug 25, 2016 05:10 am
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New Delhi: To counter competitors, state-run BSNL on Wednesday announced a national unlimited 3G mobile data plan for Rs 1,099 and doubled the data usage limit in some existing plans.
“Due to improvement in network, BSNL has been gaining customers. We are now first in the industry to offer unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1,099 without reduction in speed. This will rejoice our
customers and help them experience improved BSNL networks,” BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said. BSNL added most number of subscribers in April for a third
month in a row, as per data released by telecom regulator Trai. Growth in mobile segment in April was led by BSNL which added 11.39 lakh subscribers followed by Bharti Airtel (9.78 lakh), Aircel
(5.72 lakh), Reliance Communications (1.1 lakh), Vodafone (46,600), Quadrant (Videocon group firm – 25,012) and MTNL (11,591).
To counter private telecom operators’ strategy of slashing data rates by up to 67 per cent, BSNL has doubled data usage in Rs 549 plan for 3G service to 10 GB from 5 GB, reports PTI.“The plan
has validity of 30 days and is equivalent to 100 per cent increase in data benefits to subscribers,” Shrivastava said.
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BSNL looks at Wi-Fi service to counter pvt operators
TNN | Aug 25, 2016, 10.03 AM IST
<p>Representative image<br></p>
Representative image
HUBBALLI: The Dharwad Circle of the BSNL has decided to set up 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across Dharwad, Haveri and Gadag districts by March 2017 to counter the launch of 4G services by
private service providers
Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, Vivek Jaiswal, general manager, Dharwad Circle, BSNL, said these hotspots will come with 10 mbps speed. He said that the BSNL wants to take its
network to every nook and corner of the three districts and necessary infrastructure is being created for the same. On complaints of weak signals on cities' outskirts, Jaiswal said that the BSNL is
planning to tie-up with cable operators to expand its network in such areas. He said the free Wi-Fi service provided at three places in Hubballi-Dharwad has received good response. "Around
1,200 to 1,300 people are accessing internet everyday at Old Bus Terminus in Hubballi. Hotspots at Shirur Park in Hubballi and Jubilee Circle in Dharwad are also being used extensively by the
customers," he added.
To attract new customers, the BSNL has introduced a promotional offer where a customer can get a new landline connection for just Rs 49 a month for the first six months. Thereafter, the monthly
charge will be as per the general plan in rural and urban areas, Jaiswal said.
The BSNL has also increased the minimum broadband speed to 1 mbps, he added. He said that the BSNL launched unlimited free calling on Sundays for its landline users on August 15 in
addition to free calling during night hours from 9pm to 7am every day.
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BSNL slashes tariff by 50%, introduces unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1099
by: Nirupam Manik, The Mobile Indian,New Delhi | Last Updated: Friday, August 26, 2016 - 11:11
Previously we saw operators like Airtel and Vodafone cutting of their data plan tariffs resulting the increasing threat from Reliance Jio.
With Reliance Jio catching up all the customers, many of the other telecom operators have come up with cheap internet data plans. After Airtel who offered 10GB data at the rate of 1GB for
purchase of Galaxy J Series smartphone, BSNL has now introduced unlimited 3G plans without any reduction in speed. Not only this, the state owned company has also doubles the data usage in
some of the plans. In other words, the state run teleco has slashed by 50 per cent.
Talking about the Plans, the unlimited plan comes in at Rs 1,099. BSNL doubles the data from 5GB to 10GB in the Rs 549 plan and also increased the data from 1GB to 2GB in Rs 156 plan. The
Rs 549 plan has validity of 30 days, whereas the Rs 156 plan has validity of 10 days only.
"Due to improvement in network, BSNL has been gaining customers. We are now first in the industry to offer unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1,099 without reduction in speed. This will rejoice [sic] our
customers and help them experience improved BSNL networks," BSNL chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava commented while revealing these new tariffs.
BSNL Board Director (CM) RK Mittal said: "Last year, BSNL had also facilitated the customer by offering 80 percent cheaper voice tariff. By massive reduction in data tariff and introduction of
unlimited data STVs (Special Tariff Vouchers), BSNL hopes to serve data customers, mainly the youth segment in a much better way,"
While growth in mobile connection subscription was led by Airtel in the month of July, it was BSNL back in April with net additions of about 11.4 lakh users followed by Bharti Airtel with 9.78 lakh
users and Aircel with 5.72 lakh users.
Previously we saw operators like Airtel and Vodafone cutting of their data plan tariffs resulting the increasing threat from Reliance Jio who is offering free unlimited 4G data and Calls for 90 days.
Today, the preview offer was further extended to smartphones from ASUS, Alcatel and TCL.
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SIM Card-On-Arrival For Tourists On E-Visa Likely By September End
All India | Press Trust of India | Updated: August 25, 2016 22:27 IST
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SIM Card-On-Arrival For Tourists On E-Visa Likely By September End
The amount of money to be loaded in the SIM card it is yet to decided. (Representational Image)
New Delhi: Foreign travellers to India arriving on e-tourist visa are likely to get a SIM card from September-end, with the Home Ministry giving its nod and roping in state-run BSNL for the purpose.
"We had a number of meetings with the Home Ministry with regard to providing SIM card to foreigner tourists when they land in India. The ministry has finally agreed to our proposal. Now, it will
take some time to start the facility," Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said.
The move is aimed at projecting India as a global tourist destination among foreign travellers as well as addressing the security concerns by equipping the tourists with mobile phones to make
calls in case of any distress, an official said.
Foreign tourists face problems while procuring a SIM card, making them dependent on telephone booths. The facility would address this concern as well, he said.
The SIM card, preloaded with talktime amount, will come with a 'welcome kit' which would also consist of 'dos and don'ts list', maps, tourism booklets with information about various tourist
destinations and details of whom to contact in case of emergency, the official said.
However, according to a source, the amount of money to be loaded in the SIM card it is yet to decided.
"The e-tourist visa holders could get the welcome kit which would include a SIM card from BSNL counter as soon as they come out the airport. BSNL has agreed...the last level discussion is going
on," Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi said.
"I think the facility would be launched by September-end, probably on World Tourism Day (which falls on September 27)," he said.
Under the e-tourist visa scheme, an applicant receives an email authorising him or her to travel to India and he or she can travel with a print-out of this authorisation. On arrival, the visitor has to
present the letter to the immigration authorities who would then stamp the entry into the country.
Launched on November 27, 2014, the facility was initially available for citizens of 113 countries arriving at 16 airports in India. From February 26, the scheme was extended for citizens of 37 more
countries.
The e-tourist visa facility is gaining popularity among foreign travellers. It recorded over 200 per cent rise, with 68,400 people availing the facility in July compared to 21,476 during the
corresponding month last year.
Last month, the UK occupied the top slot in availing the e-visa facility, followed by the US and France.
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BSNL launches new schemes
Special Correspondent
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As part of its month-long celebrations of “Service with a smile”, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has launched two new schemes, including one with free unlimited calls on Sundays for
landline customers. General Manager of Dharwad Telecom District of BSNL Vivek Jaiswal told presspersons here on Tuesday that under Plan 49, landline connection was being offered at a rental
of Rs. 49 per month for the first six months and it would come with a free prepaid SIM card.
Mr. Jaiswal said that under the scheme, there would be no installation charges for landline connections and the scheme could be availed of on a visit to BSNL customer service centres.
Customer friendly
He said that as a customer friendly initiative, BSNL has upgraded broadband speed to a minimum 1 Mbps after high speed FUP (Fair Usage Policy) quota at no additional cost, for all existing
broadband customers who were under the BB plan of post FUP speed of 512 kbps.
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BSNL doubles data limits for 3G plans, offers unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1099
#BSNL
BSNL doubles data limits for 3G plans, offers unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1099
0
26 Aug 2016 , 09:14
To counter competitors, state-run BSNL today announced a national unlimited 3G mobile data plan for Rs 1,099 and doubled the data usage limit in some existing plans. “Due to improvement in
network, BSNL has been gaining customers. We are now first in the industry to offer unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1,099 without any reduction in speed. This will rejoice our customers and help them
experience improved BSNL networks,” BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said.
BSNL added most number of subscribers in April for the third month in a row, as per data released by telecom regulator Trai. Growth in mobile segment in April was led by BSNL which added
11.39 lakh subscribers followed by Bharti Airtel (9.78 lakh), Aircel (5.72 lakh), Reliance Communications (1.1 lakh), Vodafone (46,600), Quadrant (Videocon group firm – 25,012) and MTNL
(11,591).
To counter private telecom operators ‘ strategy of slashing data rates by up to 67%, BSNL has doubled data usage in Rs 549 plan for 3G service to 10 GB from 5 GB. “The plan has validity of 30
days and is equivalent to 100% increase in data benefits to subscribers,” Shrivastava said. The telecom firm has doubled 3G data usage in Rs 156 plan to 2 GB which will be valid for 10 days.
“Last year, BSNL had also facilitated the customer by offering 80% cheaper voice tariff. By massive reduction in data tariff and an introduction of unlimited data STVs (Special Tariff Vouchers),
BSNL hopes to serve data customers, mainly the youth segment in a much better way,” BSNL Board Director (CM) RK Mittal said. In July, private telecom majors — Bharti Airtel , Vodafone, and
Idea Cellular — increased data usage limit in some of their 3G/4G plans by up to 67% to counter the threat from Reliance Jio which is offering 90 days free unlimited data and phone call service.
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PMO unlikely to interfere in Trai’s business: Report
#TRAI
PMO unlikely to interfere in Trai’s business: Report
Image: PTI
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By tech2 News Staff / 26 Aug 2016 , 09:57
In a more recent update to the whole Vodafone India, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular versus Jio versus Trai row, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) may in all likelihood decline the (Cellular Operators
Association of India) COAI’s request for a meeting reported the Economic Times.
The CAOI had requested for a meeting with Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister over concerns regarding the consultation papers floated by Trai. A senior official
commented stating that the government believed in the independence of all regulators and that it will choose not to interfere in Trai’s functioning. “Our writ does not run over regulators,” he said.
The the request for a meeting was sent across on 11 August but an official at a leading telco claimed that the COAI has not received any confirmation from the PMO just yet.
In its letter, COAI penned down down its observations against Trai stating that the recent consultation papers on the abolition of mobile termination charges, termination of internet telephony
charges and even the one on quality of service were against existing telcos (hinting at Reliance’s Jio).
Indeed all of this comes in the midst of a war between telcos Vodafone India, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance’s Jio as the latter prepares for its 4G launch
Even state-run BSNL yesterday put up its dukes and announced an unlimited 3G plan in preparation for what Reliance has on offer, the tariffs of which could be a blow to the rest of the telcos.
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Many offers from BSNL
Special Correspondent
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New BSNL landline connections now come with a slew of offers. There will be no installation charges for those availing new connections. Under the scheme christened ‘Experience Landline 49,’
launched to attract more landline subscribers, whatever the call cost, a fixed rate of only Rs.49 will be charged for the first six months.
The new subscriber has to pay Rs.600 for the instrument. A statement from the BSNL General Manager’s office here on Thursday stated that the call rates will be Re.1 per minute to BSNL network
numbers and Rs.1.20 to other networks. There is also a free pre-paid SIM card as gift. The new landline customers will be entitled to all other offers available to the existing landline customers.
This includes a free call facility to all networks between 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. and free calls throughout the day on Sunday. Those opting for BSNL broadband service can now purchase modems at
slashed rates. In the mobile there is a student plan for Rs.118. Interested persons can call number 9400054141 for details.
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After Google, Facebook to offer free WiFi at Indian railway stations
DECCAN CHRONICLE.
Published Aug 26, 2016, 11:20 am IST
Updated Aug 26, 2016, 11:21 am IST
Facebook is looking towards connecting with Indian Railways to provide WiFi across railway stations.
Facebook recently concluded a set of pilot internet services across 125 rural locations after purchasing bandwidth from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL).
Facebook recently concluded a set of pilot internet services across 125 rural locations after purchasing bandwidth from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL).
Google recently revealed that close to 1.5 million people were using the free WiFi provided by them at 19 railways stations in India. While, the search giant expects over 10 million Indians to use
its free WiFi service at railways stations by the end of 2016; there is another company which is set to share the respective share of users.
RK Bahuguna, Chairman of Indian Railways’ communications arm, RailTel, told Economics Times, that the former was in talks with Facebook for expanding its WiFi coverage not only to railways
stations but to villages in the vicinity as well.
The operation is easy as RailTel has a readily available optic fibre-based network across over 4,000 railway stations in the country. This way, RailTel is capable of providing data services up to a
10km radius from rail stops and through the use of additional access points, this can easily be extended by up to 25km via additional access points.
Facebook also recently concluded a set of pilot internet services across 125 rural locations after purchasing bandwidth from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL).
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BSNL cuts mobile data rate with increased benefits
Posted on 27/08/2016 by Dailyexcelsior
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 26: BSNL has doubled data usages of its popular data STV (Special Tariff Voucher) to 10 GB which was earlier providing 5 GB data in the same cost for just Rs 549 with validity of
one month (30 days). It is equivalent to 100 % increase in data benefits to subscribers.
In addition, BSNL has also announced the launch of unlimited 3G data STV without any speed restrictions for all prepaid mobile customers for just Rs 1099 with validity of one month (30days).
This is the first of its kind in Telecom industry. Cost effective new data STV of Rs 156 has also been launched which provides 2 GB data for 10 days. These offers will be available on PAN India
basis with effect from August 25.
BSNL is leading in mobile service initiatives by giving unlimited data tarrif without keeping any speed restriction by introducing new data STVs in Indian market
Commenting on the offers, Director (CM), BSNL Board, RK Mittal, said, “BSNL offers are unique and their sole purpose is to enable every section of the society with high speed internet at
affordable prices. By massive reduction in data tariff and introduction of unlimited data STVs, BSNL hopes to serve data customers mainly youth segment in much better way.”
He said that a complete range of Tariff plans and STVs offered by BSNL can be seen by visiting Mobile section at BSNL website www.bsnl.co.in.
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BSNL plans to set up 10 Wi-Fi hotspots in Uttara Kannada
The Central government owner Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limi ted (BSNL) has joined hands with the state government to develop tourism in Uttara Kannada districtTNN | Aug 27, 2016, 09.28 AM
IST
Newsletter
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Karwar: The Central government owner Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limi ted (BSNL) has joined hands with the state government to develop tourism in Uttara Kannada district .
GR Ravi, general manager, BSNL said that for the convenience of the tourists who visit the district, the BSNL has identified 10 places to set up Wi-Fi hotspots. The Wi-Fi hotspot will be initially set
up in the Government Medical College, Rabindranath Tagore beach, and Green Street bus terminus in Karwar. Other places where the proposed WiFi hotspots will come up are Anjuman
Engineering College hostel, market and Murudeshwar beach in Bhatkal, Om and Kudle beaches in Gokarna, and Kanagod Adarsh gram. This will help boost tourism in a big way, he said.
He said efforts are on to improve the quality of the mobile services. A new scheme to attract more customers to landline is also being implemented. Those who opt for the new landline service will
be charged just Rs 49 per month for the first six months and no installation fees will be charged. Customers can talk free of cost from 9pm to 7pm from Monday to Saturday and round the clock on
Sunday. A total of 124 new 3G sites have been approved in the district this year.
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BSNL bets on Plan 49 to bring back customers to landline business
Once the core of all telecommunication, landlines have gradually taken back seat with advent of mobile telephony.Jaideep Shenoy | Aug 29, 2016, 08.31 AM IST
Newsletter
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MANGALURU: State owned telecom company - BSNL is betting big on its recently launched plan 49 to bring back customers back to its landline operations. Once the core of all
telecommunication, landlines have gradually taken back seat with advent of mobile telephony. Promoted under the tag line 'Experience LL 49 Plan', a new customer opting for this plan is assured
of a host of benefits, explains G R Ravi, general manager, Dakshina Kannada telecom district.
For starters, installation is free. The new customer also gets a free prepaid BSNL SIM card. Six months from installation, the connection is converted to the general plan of the area concerned.
Usually, the general plan starts with monthly rental of Rs 240 for urban users and Rs 220 for rural users, he says adding the call rate per minute under this plan for local calls is Re 1 and Rs 1.20 for
STD. The offer launched on Independence Day is valid for 90 days, he noted.
With BSNL also having launched unlimited free calls to any network for 24-hours on all Sunday since August 15, a landline customer now has the opportunity to make calls free from 9pm on
Saturday to 7am on Monday, including the general free night calling offer from 9pm to 7am every day. "This will be an attractive proposition for customers who prefer to get in touch with their loved
and dear ones and weekends is the time when people are generally free," he said.
To make the offer even more attractive to new customers coming to its land line fold and to existing customers, BSNL has also allowed them to forward their mobile calls to local landline number
and avail crystal clear voice quality of incoming calls on their mobile at homes without any extra charge. The Rs 49 rental is cheaper than most mobile plans, he said, adding details on how to
divert call can be had on www.bsnl.co.in or by calling 1800-180-1503.
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BSNL launches Plan 49 for fixed-line customers
Monday 29 August 2016 | 09:49 CET | News
Indian state-owned operator BSNL has introduced its ‘Plan 49’, in an attempt to bring back customers back to its fixed-line services, ET reports. Customers who take up the 'Experience LL 49
Plan' will receive “a host of benefits”, ET reports, citing G R Ravi, general manager, Dakshina Kannada telecom district. The plan is available with no installation fee.
Subscribers will also receive a free prepay BSNL SIM card. Six months following service activation, the connection is converted to the general plan of the customer’s area. Usually, the general
plan starts with monthly rental of INR 240 for urban users and INR 220 for rural users, Ravi says. Local calls for Plan 49 subscribers are charged INR 1 and INR 1.20 for STD.
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After visa on arrival, tourists traveling to India will get a local SIM card too
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Image: AFP/Getty Images
2016%2f08%2f25%2f67%2fuigbssi4.90a56By Manish Singh
2016-08-29 09:56:35 UTC
As the holiday season nears, India is fixing one of the most annoying problems that tourists visiting the country face - getting a local SIM card.
India's Union Home Ministry has sanctioned a proposal to give SIM cards to foreigners who visit India on e-tourist visas. The plan could be enforced by the end of September this year. “I think the
facility will probably be launched on World Tourism Day,” said Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi. September 27 is celebrated as the World Tourism Day.
Foreigners are currently required to go through a fairly lengthy procedure to get an Indian SIM card. A range of documents including a proof of identity, a photocopy of passport with valid visa
stamp, proof of address along with the address of local reference, and photographs among other details are required at the time of applying for a new connection. In addition, a traveler is also
required to do a tele-verification with the respective operator, which itself can take up to two days. If the new proposal gets approval, things could get a lot simpler and swifter.
The move comes as India attempts to attract more tourists. The country was the 38th most visited place in 2014 and tourism contributed as much as 6.77 percent to the country’s total GDP in
2014, according to the National Council for Applied Economic Research. In comparison, the IT-BPO industry, which the country focuses heavily on, accounts for 7.5 percent of the GDP.
State-owned telecom operator BSNL is likely to provide the service to foreigners, officials with the Tourism ministry said, adding that the discussion had reached the “last level.” In addition to a SIM
card, foreigners with an e-tourist visa will also be provided with maps, booklets with information about various destinations, and emergency contact numbers. The SIM card will be loaded with
some free credit, though the exact amount is yet to be decided.
Getting an e-tourist visa from the Indian government is fairly straightforward. Anyone who wants to visit the country needs to apply for the e-tourist visa four days ahead of their arrival. India allows
citizens of 150 nations to visit the country for tourism purposes via an e-tourist visa.
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Hemanta Pradhan | Aug 22, 2016, 11.17 PM IST
TOI illustration for representation.TOI illustration for representation.
BHUBANESWAR: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has set a target to register 3,000 landline users every month in Odisha to improve its declining landline customer base.
The BSNL has 2.97 lakh landline customers across the state. But the number was 3.15 lakh last year. "Customer base is decreasing in the state due to people depend on mobile phone most of
the time. We have seen 5-6 per cent de-growth in this service," said BSNL Odisha circle chief general manager Satyananda Naik at a press conference here on Monday.
He said landline users in Bhubaneswar are increasing gradually. Now Bhubaneswar has 83,000 customers against 80,000 last year. "We have set a target to include 1000 new users in the city
every month to expand the sector," he added.
To attract new landline users, the BSNL has started introducing a promotional offer in which new customers can avail landline services at Rs 49 per month only. Under this scheme, fixed monthly
charges of Rs 49 will be charged for first six months. Apart from that, customers can enjoy unlimited free calling on all Sundays from its landline phones to all service providers' network with effect
from August 15.
Naik said BSNL is witnessing 20 per cent growth every year in mobile sector. "Now we have 41 lakh users in the state. We add 1.1 lakh to 1.3 lakh customers every month," he added.
To provide better service to customers, the government-owned telecommunications company will install 450 mobile network towers across the state. "We will take steps to address customers'
grievances regarding different services," said the CGM.
Naik said BSNL Odisha circle has witnessed 10-12 per cent growth last year. It has generated revenue of Rs 932 crore with a profit of Rs 41 crore during last financial year 2015-16. "We have set
a target to get Rs 1,000 crore this financial year with a good profit," he added.
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BSNL offers unlimited free calls on Sundays
By Staff Reporter / August 23, 2016 / Comments Off on BSNL offers unlimited free calls on Sundays
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Dimapur, August 22 : Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) India has signed an MoU with Microsoft India offering complete suite of Telecom and IT solutions for enterprise business. This was
announced by the BSNL officials on Monday at a press conference held in Dimapur.
The telecom officials also announced that customers of BSNL will be able to make free unlimited free calls on every Sunday from BSNL landline phones to all networks in the country. This scheme
is mainly to promote its landline phone, it added.
Admitting that BSNL had suffered heavy loss in the past amounting to Rs.691 crore, the country’s telecom sector is looking forward to an increase in its revenue this financial year especially with
announcement of several schemes.
BSNL has launched new student plan of Rs.118 which allows 1 GB data for 30 days with call rate of 10 paisa/minute. The State run operator has also increased the download speed offer Fair
Usage Policy (FUP) quota under unlimited broadband plan from existing 512 kbps to 1 Mbps.
Giving a challenge to private telecom operators, BSNL has been consistently providing highest growth with respect to subscriber addition in mobile segment. The aggressive and competitive tariff
has helped BSNL to increase its market share and BSNL is cheapest in data tariff while offering 1 GB data pack for mere Rs.68 which is for one day, 1 GB data pack for Rs.198 (28 days) and 2
GB data pack for Rs.291 (28 days).
While giving out the newly launched plans of BSNL to media persons, the officials invited customers feedback and suggestion to improve the services and make BSNL transparent.
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BSNL offers new landline plans
THE HANS INDIA | Aug 23,2016 , 01:39 AM IST
BSNL Offers
BSNL Offers
Hyderabad: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has announced attractive plans for its landline customers. “For the benefit of our landline customers, BSNL has introduced unlimited free
calling on all Sundays from its landline phones to all service providers’ network with effect from August 15, 2016.
This scheme will be available to all existing and new BSNL landline customers without any additional cost. Under this offer, all major landline plans of rural and urban areas and all broadband plans
are covered,” said L Anantharam, Chief General Manager, AP Telecom Circle, BSNL.
Now, all BSNL landline customers can also make unlimited calls to their near and dears on all Sundays anywhere in India to all networks without any additional cost. This unlimited free calling on all
Sundays is in addition to the free calling during night hours (from 9 pm to 7 am) already being offered by BSNL to its all landline and broadband customers.
For attracting new customers, Anantharam said, BSNL has also introduced a promotional offer in which new customers can avail BSNL landline service at a nominal price of Rs 49 per month with
free installation and Free SIM.
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Uniform policy in the works to shut loss-making CPSEs
NEW DELHI: The government will soon come out with a uniform policy on closing loss-making state-run companies, a move that will kick-start the process of winding up more than 30 central
public sector enterprises (CPSEs) across various ministries.
A senior official with the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises confirmed the development and said the new guidelines will ensure that employees are offered better severance
packages and scheduled are prepared for the closure of such companies.
"At present, administrative ministries dither to close their companies and follow different mechanisms to work out the benefits to be paid to employees.
The new policy will ensure that timelines are fixed and a uniform severance package approach is followed for all CPSEs," the official said, adding that the termination package will be on the basis
of the 2007 notional pay scale.
The new policy will detail a plan for central assistance on loans for payment of salaries, wages and statutory dues to sick companies.
The administrative ministries have already been directed to work out a restructuring and revival plan for sick and incipient sick CPSEs within nine months of the closure of the financial year, the
official said.
The move comes after NITI Aayog suggested in a report the closure or winding up of 26 companies and long-term lease or management contracts for five firms. It identified three companies that
can be merged with their parent company.
The government has already initiated the process of shutting five CPSEs - Hindustan Cables, Tungabhadra Steel, HMT (Watches), HMT (Chinar Watches) and HMT (Bearings).
According to the Public Enterprises Survey 2014-15, there are 77 loss-making PSUs, which posted a loss of Rs 27,360 crore as compared to Rs 21,341 crore in 2013-14. The top three loss-
making CPSEs are BSNL, Air India and MTNL.
ET view: Wind up fast
We need a proactive policy to redeploy productive assets for the greater good. Many of the reported 77 loss-making CPSEs are unlikely to have profitable operations any time soon and do need
to be wound up. The S K Roongta panel had proposed sale of loss-making CPSEs, through an auction, limited to other CPSEs. Enabling profit-making CPSEs to bid would help create new
businesses which leverage infrastructure of loss-making CPSEs. VIEW
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BSNL to launch 4G in State soon
By Express News Service
Published: 23rd August 2016 04:45 AM
Last Updated: 23rd August 2016 04:45 AM
0
BHUBANESWAR: State-run telecom operator BSNL has floated tenders for expansion of mobile services in Odisha. Once the expansion is completed, 4G Internet services will be available in the
State soon. Initially BSNL will start with Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and later expand 4G services to other parts of the State, CGM BSNL Odisha Circle Satyananda Naik said.
Addressing mediapersons here on Monday, Naik said BSNL needs at least 2,000 additional towers to address network coverage issues in Odisha. Currently, there are 3,187 BSNL towers in the
State, but the operator is facing difficulties in getting sites for installation of the additional ones.
The issue of call drops has shown a downward trend with three per cent recorded in July. Over 80 per cent gram panchayats (GPs) have been brought under the coverage area of BSNL. Efforts
are on to provide network access to all GPs by the end of this year, he said.
Amidst tough competition offered by private operators, BSNL has come up with new offers and plans to increase its customer base. Among these, unlimited free calling from BSNL land line
phones to any network across the country and 20 GB data for Rs 799 and 40 GB data for Rs 1,199 have been a hit.
The operator has upgraded the broadband speed to a minimum of one Mbps from August 1 with no additional cost to the customers.
The direct Fibre To The Home (FTTH) service in major cities is allowing customers to access Internet upto 100 Mbps speed. To provide data service to students, BSNL has recently launched ‘New
Student Plan’ for Rs 118 which offers one GB data for 30 days with a call charge of 10 paise per minute and SMS at 15 paise. With the new schemes in place, BSNL is expecting 4,000 new
connections a month.
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BSNL's 4G services by 2017 for Kolkata users, gets order for 262 BTSs
Public sector giant BSNL is planning to unveil its fourth generation (4G) services in the Kolkata circle by 2017.TNN | Aug 23, 2016, 09.44 AM IST
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Kolkata: Public sector giant BSNL is planning to unveil its fourth generation (4G) services in the Kolkata circle by 2017. According to a senior BSNL official, who is associated with Calcutta
Telephones' mobile services told TOI that the allocation of 262 base transceiver station (BTS) for 4G services in and around Kolkata has been received.
"We only need to have a formal approval for this project to begin. The company, however, is yet to finalize a timeline for the launch. But if all goes well, mobile users will be able get BSNL 4G
service by 2017. The 4G services will further add to our subscriber growth," added the official.
State-owned BSNL has geared up to launch 4G services in 14 telecom circles, including Kolkata, where it has 20 MHz (2,500 MHz band) liberalised broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum.
The company, which has already soft launched 4G services in Chandigarh, is exploring two methods - revenue-sharing model and capex model - for the 4G rollout. According to BSNL sources,
Calcutta Telephones will be installing 4G base tower stations (BTS) in the existing GSM sites, which means there will be no additional expenditure on towers.
Meanwhile, in order to regain the foothold, the circle is also planning to add 350 towers to its 700-odd 3G BTS portfolio by September 15 this year. "We will be investing Rs 218 crore for buying
equipment, laying infrastructure and transmission tools to bolster our existing Calcutta Telephones 3G network," said B L Varshney, CGM, Eastern Telecom Project, BSNL. The Kolkata circle
encompasses 2,200 sq km area which also includes Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas and parts of Nadia.
"We are trying to change our face. By September 2016, the circle will have 1,550 towers (2G and 3G) and we will hopefully able to bring 95% of the area under BSNL coverage," said K C Ghosh,
GM (NWO II), CFA, CTD, Calcutta Telephones.
On the sidelines of the launch of Experience Landline 49 Plan, Ghosh said, "In order to give a push to its broadband services, we are planning to introduce (optical) fibre to home (FTH) services."
Calcutta Telephones has 1.14 lakh broadband subscribers and 6.36 lakh fixed line users. In the last fiscal, the PSU giant has lost over 80,000 fixed-line subscribers. However, the company has got
back 3,000 dissatisfied fixed-line customers and 4,251 broadband customers. "In the next fiscal, we have a target to bring back 8,000 broadband customers. With this Experience LL 49 Plan, we
are expecting an addition of 10,000 subscriber this year. Doubling broadband speed and introducing FTH would also help us regain busines," he added.
As the latest entrant in the 4G space, BSNL has so far demonstrated a speed of 35 Mbps during a soft launch in Chandigarh. Top mobile operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular
have commenced 4G services in various circles. Reliance Jio Infocomm is set to commercially launch 4G services soon, which will further intensify competition.
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BSNL plans to join solar bandwagon
BSNL plans to join solar bandwagon
The telecom company on 12 August invited proposals for manufacturing solar equipment at its factory in Bhilai.
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In an attempt to leverage the growing focus on India’s solar energy sector, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) plans to lease out its telecom factory at Bhilai in Chhattisgarh for
manufacturing solar equipment.
The move is expected to provide a boost to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s ‘Make in India’ programme. India’s solar power sector has attracted a considerable amount of
investor interest from within the country and abroad. However, many developers have been sourcing equipment from countries such as China to set up these projects.
The NDA government has set a target of adding 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy projects across the country by 2022. Of this, 100GW is expected to be from solar power projects. India
has a renewable energy capacity of 44GW.
“BSNL is offering its telecom factory premises at Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, for manufacturing latest technology devices. But the interested company can only manufacture solar power supply systems
and/or its components such as solar cells, photovoltaic modules, solar batteries and other related equipment,” said a senior BSNL executive requesting anonymity.
The telecom company on 12 August invited proposals for the same from interested entities.
The telecom factory at Bhilai is a 50-acre in-house production unit of the company. It has its own engineering facility, production shops, testing labs and other necessary infrastructure.
“This will help us generate revenue by targeting the markets available in India and abroad for such products. It will also attract foreign firms interested to start manufacturing in India. They will have
the infrastructure available in our factory without any need to go for a greenfield project,” the executive said.
The manufacturing facility will also help meet 30% of the annual solar equipment requirement of BSNL. The company has been setting up solar rooftop power projects as part of the government’s
initiative to identify large government buildings for the purpose.
With initiatives such as ‘Make in India’ aimed at creating employment opportunities, the manufacturing sector has to play a key role. By 2025, the government wants manufacturing to contribute
25% to the country’s gross domestic product from the current 16%.
BSNL operates in all circles except Delhi and Mumbai where Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd—another public sector unit—operates.
BSNL’s chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava confirmed the development.
Mahesh Uppal, founder of ComFirst, a consultancy firm, said BSNL has been focusing on leveraging its under-utilised resources, be it real estate or spectrum.
The company has been trying to create additional streams of revenue. The main strategy is to tie up with private firms to monetise its underutilised assets, including spectrum, towers and land.
Other measures include adding new capacity to offer 3G and 4G services, setting up Wi-Fi hotspots and replacing old equipment in the next few years to become a relevant operator.
“It is a good idea. But the larger issue here is why the company has become inefficient in offering basic telecom services. Lack of professional management at BSNL is one of the main reasons
for this. BSNL has been facing challenges for its end-user services—especially quality of services and customer relations—which is why it is steadily losing market share. It can’t be resolved by
making its resources available to outsiders,” Uppal added.
BSNL has been losing its dominance in the mobile space over the past six years. It’s net loss rose to Rs.8,234 crore in financial year 2014-15 compared with Rs.7,020 crore posted in the year
before.
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BSNL unveils 4G plan for city
Hindu Chennai Tue,23 Aug 2016
BSNL unveils 4G plan for city
Summary: By March 2017, our 4G towers will, hopefully, be installed and ready for service roll outs,” S.M. Tenders will be floated to set up 300 4G towers in Chennai. We hope to increase the
number of people and increase the number of Sundays we work on,” Ms. Kalavathi added. Ms. Kalavathi said they had launched 45 4G wi-fi hotspots in Chennai. She said that some staff were
asked to work on Sundays to ensure broadband faults were looked into.
Telecom major to instal 300 towers for rolling out the services by March next BSNL will set up about 300 4G towers in Chennai by March 2017 to enable the public sector enterprise to provide
4G mobile services, a top official of Chennai Telephones, a part of BSNL, said on Monday. “We will also be entering the 4G space. Tenders will be floated to set up 300 4G towers in Chennai. By
March 2017, our 4G towers will, hopefully, be installed and ready for service roll outs,” S.M.
Kalavathi, Chief General Manager, Chennai Telephones, said at a press conference on Monday. Ms. Kalavathi said they had launched 45 4G wi-fi hotspots in Chennai. The department had
identified 40 places in Chennai to expand their broadband network. “Out of these, we have started work at three places,” she said. About the turnaround time to set right faults in the broadband
connections when customers raised issues, the CGM said it took about one to three days for faults to be rectified. “But nowadays, people are not able to live without internet for even half-an-hour.
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BSNL offers landline for Rs. 49
Staff Reporter
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The BSNL is offering landline service for as low as Rs. 49. It would also extend free prepaid SIM and the offer is valid for 90 days from August 15. However, offer is only for first six months and later
the number will be converted into general plan.
Disclosing the details here on Monday, BSNL Senior General Manager A. K. Sahu said that no free calls would be allowed under this plan.
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BSNL to set up 4G towers in Chennai
BSNL on Monday revealed that it will reportedly set up around 300 4G towers in Chennai by March 2017 as a measure to enable the public sector enterprise to provide 4G mobile services.
Speaking about this Chief General Manager, SM Kalavathi said tenders will be floated to set up 300 4G towers in Chennai. She also added that BSNL had launched around 45 4G Wi-Fi hotspots
in the city.
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Telecom major BSNL to install 300 towers in Tamil Nadu for rolling out 4G services
6 days ago | Published by : Renu Ratheesh
Telecom-major-BSNL-to-install-300-towers-in-Tamil-Nadu-for-rolling-out-4G-services --indialivetoday
Chennai, August 23: BSNL will set up about 300 4G towers in Chennai by March 2017 to enable the public sector enterprise to provide 4G mobile services, a top official of Chennai Telephones, a
part of BSNL, said on Monday.
“We will also be entering the 4G space. Tenders will be floated to set up 300 4G towers in Chennai. By March 2017, our 4G towers will, hopefully, be installed and ready for service roll outs,” S.M.
Kalavathi, Chief General Manager, Chennai Telephones, said at a press conference on Monday.
Ms. Kalavathi said they had launched 45 4G wi-fi hotspots in Chennai.
The department had identified 40 places in Chennai to expand their broadband network.
“Out of these, we have started work at three places,” she said. About the turnaround time to set right faults in the broadband connections when customers raised issues, the CGM said it took about
one to three days for faults to be rectified.
“But nowadays, people are not able to live without internet for even half-an-hour. We are aware of this huge turnaround time. We are working to bring this down to a day or less than a day,” she
said.
She said that some staff were asked to work on Sundays to ensure broadband faults were looked into. “There are many married people who are at work all through the week and Sunday is the
only day when any complaint can be resolved. We have a few people working on Sundays. We hope to increase the number of people and increase the number of Sundays we work on,” Ms.
Kalavathi added.
BSNL added 20 lakh mobile connections a month in the past three months, she said. “It has 11 to 12 per cent market share in the Chennai region,” she said.
Ms. Kalavathi said Indian Bank had adopted two villages in Minjur and Athur under their Corporate Social Responsibility programme, to provide digital access.
BSNL was providing the wi-fi hotspots in these villages, she said and added that more such villages were considered to be adopted by other corporates for the programme.
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BSNL Kerala retains status as most profitable telecom circle
Vinson Kurian
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Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 23:
BSNL Kerala has retained status as the highest profit-making telecom circle in the country by registering 35 per cent growth to ₹658 crore in 2015-16 from ₹486 crore in 2014-15.
Karnataka and Odisha are the other profitable telecom circles, according to R Mani, Chief General Manager, Kerala Circle. Kerala has the highest landline customer base of 20.72 lakh.
New schemes
In order to lure new subscribers, BSNL has introduced the LL 49 Experience plan with a fixed monthly charge of ₹49 for the first six months. After this, it will be converted to a general plan.
There is no installation charge under the scheme, which offers a free prepaid SIM card. It allows free calls for 24 hours on Sundays; but an instrument charge of ₹600 is payable.
Two other promotional plans relate to broadband and FTTH (fibre-to-the-home). Broadband ULD 1091 offers up to 40 GB at 8 Mbps within two km of main secondary switching areas (SSAs) of
Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kozhikode and at 1 Mbps beyond.
ULD 1045 under FTTH offers up to 50 GB at 20 Mbps and 1 Mbps as the case may be. Under ULS 1395, up to 75 GB is on offer at 20 Mbps and 1 Mbps in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam,
Thrissur, Kozhikode and Palakkad SSAs.
Mobile segment
BSNL Kerala will give a major thrust to the broadband and FTTH schemes during this year, Mani said. It has also resumed the scheme for migrating from any private broadband operator.
In the mobile segment, BSNL Kerala is the second largest operator in the State with a customer base of 80.5 lakh (78.2 lakh prepaid and 2.3 lakh postpaid).
It had acquired 6.36 lakh new GSM mobile customers from April till last week this year. An estimated 1.65 lakh have been added during last month alone.
Mani said that a little more than 8.33 lakh have ported in net to BSNL Kerala from others till date through the mobile number portability facility.
4G rollout in March
Rollout of 4G will happen in select cities in March as part of the phase 8 expansion of BSNL at a pan-India level. This will be accompanied by a major expansion in a number of 3G sites in the
State.
BSNL Kerala is also planning to replace the old-technology 2G sites (Nortel and Motorola) with new technology equipment (mainly Chinese).
Mani said that BSNL Kerala has been meeting key performance indicator (KPI) parameters set out by telecom regulator TRAI.
Quality of service of 2G/3G mobile network in Thiruvananthapuram has been certified as the best during an independent drive test conducted by a TRAI audit agency. The test covered various
locations in the city over a distance of 350 km.
===================
People told to make use of BSNL offers
Staff Correspondent
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Assistant General Manager of BSNL B.V. Kulkarni addressing a press conference at his office in Raichur on Tuesday. - PHOTO: SANTOSH SAGAR.
Assistant General Manager of BSNL B.V. Kulkarni addressing a press conference at his office in Raichur on Tuesday. - PHOTO: SANTOSH SAGAR.
B.V. Kulkarni, Assistant General Manager, Raichur Division of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a Government of India undertaking, has appealed to the people to make use of attractive
offers that the public sector company had recently announced on the occasion of 70th Independence Day.
Addressing a press conference at his office in Raichur on Tuesday, he said that BSNL had introduced a new offering of unlimited calling to all service providers’ networks across India round-the-
clock on Sundays and between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. on other days.
“In addition to the free night calling across India to all networks introduced a year ago, BSNL has now introduced free-calling round the clock on Sundays to all networks across India. The facility is
applied both new and existing customers. The company has also introduced a promotional offer for new costumers in which they can use new landline service at a monthly fee of just Rs. 49 for the
first six months,” he said.
Asked about the frequent outages in landline services, he said that the problem was due to frequent damages inflicted on cables by ongoing civil works such as construction of roads and drains.
“When mobile communication has gained widespread popularity, BSNL is the only company that still continues to offer landline services for the benefit of people, with 10,000 landline customers in
the division. The service is based on physical cables laid across the city and they are being frequently damaged. Yet, we are continuously addressing outage issues and fixing them at the earliest
possible,” he said.
D.P. Rajkumar, Chief Account Officer, and other staff were present.
===============
BSNL mulls roll out of more public Wi-Fi hotspots in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi
Jaideep Shenoy | TNN | Aug 23, 2016, 07.21 PM IST
Eyeing 100% rise in postpaid user base, BSNL has launched a facility wherein bills can be paid at over 5 lakh centres all seven days of the week.Eyeing 100% rise in postpaid user base, BSNL
has launched a facility wherein bills can be paid at over 5 lakh ... Read More
Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada Telecom District of BSNL is all set to roll out public Wi-Fi spots in a big way by the end of this year. The telecom unit will provide 1,500 Wi-Fi access points in the
two revenue districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada under its jurisdiction and more such points could be made functional based on emerging demand for such data services from the users,
noted G R Ravi, general manager, DK Telecom District, BSNL.
Interacting with reporters, Ravi said the telecom unit recently has provided Wi-Fi facility for the NIT-K campus at Srinivasnagar near here. "We are open to more such public benefit exercise," he
said adding the unit is getting the necessary equipment needed for greater Wi-Fi penetration as part of the union government's Digital India mission. "We are selecting areas where data usage is
high, especially educational institutions in planning our rollout," he said.
Asserting that BSNL's Wi-Fi roll out will be on highly competitive compared to other telecom companies, Ravi said the roll out plan in easily scalable. Past the 15-minutes of free usage offered to a
customer, the data packs are attractively priced, he said adding the speeds one can achieve will be faster than what one using a 4G network gets. The data recharge vouchers are also devised
such that all segments of data users can benefit from it based on their needs, he noted.
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BSNL retirees seek 7th Pay Commission benefits
In a resolution adopted at the 5th Circle Conference here, the association said all the BSNL pensioners should be brought under the Central Pay Commission and the benefits be extended to
them with effect from January 2017.PTI | Aug 23, 2016, 09.10 PM IST
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Coimbatore: Tamil Nadu Circle of All India BSNL Pensioners' Welfare Association today urged the Centre to extend the benefits of 7th Pay Commission to BSNL retirees, who were also covered
under the government pension scheme.
In a resolution adopted at the 5th Circle Conference here, the association said all the BSNL pensioners should be brought under the Central Pay Commission and the benefits be extended to
them with effect from January 2017.
The other demands include withdrawal of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, reintroduction of medical allowance to pensioners, preventing sale of shares of PSUs including
BSNL and so on, it added. NVM ROH
====================
Major private telcos added 2.08 million subscribers in July: COAI
PTI | Aug 23, 2016, 09.46 PM IST
Leading GSM telecom operators, Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Telenor, added 2.08 million subscribers in July, as per data released by industry body COAI.
"The GSM Subscriber increased by 2.08 million in July. Total number of GSM Subscriber base as of July 2016 reached 779.05 million," as per data of Cellular Operators Association of India
(COAI).
Telecom major Bharti Airtel led the growth by adding 1.07 million net new subscribers taking its total mobile customer base to 256.81 million at the end of July.
The firm was followed by Telenor which added 0.4 million customers, Vodafone 0.33 million and Idea added 0.26 million new customers.
The data released by the industry body did not include latest subscriber number of state-run public sector units MTNL and BSNL. Other GSM players, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communications
and Quadrant, also do not share their subscriber numbers with COAI as they are not its members.
UP East remained the top telecom circle with 71.32 million GSM subscribers and Kerala topped the chart in terms of maximum subscriber additions in July.
=======
Another telecom revolution
By The Editorial Team / August 24, 2016 / Comments Off on Another telecom revolution
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The telecom industry in India is slated to see yet another revolution with the launch of cheaper and better services with the onset of newer competing technologies. The move by Reliance a private
telecom service provider to enter into the LTE FDD sector is ruffling many a feathers of its competitors including the state owned BSNL. This new technology is also 4G but it is much faster than
the existing 3G and 4G networks and better suited for internet telephony thus making calls much cheaper especially trunk calls and international calls. Earlier it was also Reliance that gave India
the cheapest phone of CDMA technology when the tariffs of other networks were costly and so were the handsets.
However Nagaland keeps missing out on such monumental changes in the market due to many factors. Such mega projects with huge investments require favourable local conditions so that the
venture is profitable for the service providers and ultimately the people get the benefit to avail better services. Without such conditions in place companies will always look for the cheapest form of
investments with the best profits possible leading the consumers being on the losing end of the deal in most cases.
A glaring example is the mobile telecom sector in the state at present. Like in any liberalised market the choices are numerous but on the contrary the service is way below par in Nagaland.
Network coverage is lacking and call drops a daily affair. The telecom regulatory authority’s (TRAI) recent directive on call drops might be a little too arbitrary for the service providers but it is never
as relevant as in Nagaland. The problem is aggravated with the local energy crises in the state where constant supply of power to the mobile towers has become a problem. The contingency
power backups in the form of batteries and power generators also sometimes cannot sustain when there are frequent load shedding and prolonged shutdowns that in turn reduces the lifecycle of
these equipments. What would be considered as a choice for additional service to those who can afford it have instead become a necessity in Nagaland where even two SIM cards of different
providers for one GSM device is not enough.
Hopefully with the launch of the new technology networks in some of the towns in Nagaland it is expected to improve the services of the existing other players too with the new competition in the
market. The state owned BSNL has already pre-emptively doubled the data speeds for their broadband consumers and is also currently offering the cheapest data packs and has also announced
free unlimited call on Sundays for their wired consumers. The remaining providers are also expected to follow suit along with rest of the country in coming up with tariffs cuts and added service but
the only catch will be the quality of service that is still found wanting in the state.
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BSNL runs out of SIM cards in Srinagar Circle
By SOHAIL PUNJABI on August 24, 2016No Comment
SRINAGAR: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has no SIM cards to give to customers in its Srinagar Circle, where the demand for postpaid SIM cards is growing by the day. This crunch
comes at the same time as when BSNL is holding camps throughout the state to increase its market share by offering free SIM cards, both for prepaid and postpaid connections.
In Srinagar, though, the stock of SIMs has run empty. BSNL General Manager Mohammad Saleem Beigh said that SIM cards will be available from next week in Srinagar Circle.
BSNL has been providing postpaid SIMs to government employees and media persons after the government shut down all mobile phone networks except BSNL postpaid in the Kashmir valley.
From Tuesday, a series of two-day customer camps called melas willl be held in the districts of Jammu, Sambha, Kathua, Udhampur, Reasi, Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar, Poonch, Rajouri, Leh and
Kargil, to provide free BSNL SIM cards.
The camps will be held at prominent market places, residential areas, colleges, bus stands, railway station and other important places, a statement issued by the company said.
The public can get BSNL SIM cards at the camps after filing the requisite forms and providing their proof of address and proof of identity along with two photographs.
===========
Tabs lose steam, sales decline 11 per cent
Aug 24, 2016 |
Age Correspondent
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New Delhi
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Tablets lost stream with their sales falling by 11 per cent in April-June quarter (CY Q2) of 2016 in India on year on year basis, according to Cyber Media Research (CMR).
Some 0.95 million tablet PCs were sold (shipped) in India during the quarter.
However, the segment recorder a rise of about 5 per cent when compared sequentially, said CMR.
Datawind topped the list with its share at 37.2 per cent in 2Q CY 2016, followed by Samsung at 18.9 per cent, Pantel (BSNL) was at the third position with 11.8 per cent market share during the
period.
“Apple showed its stupendous performance with over 100 per cent rise sequentially, hinting towards an uptake in CXO purchases.
“Increased inclination towards i-Pads may help the tablets space to see a turnaround in the near future. Brands lining up for 4G foray also likely to contribute significantly to the tablets market,” said
CMR.
Krishna Mukherjee, analyst telecom at CMR, said that the tablets market has been witnessing a fall for quite some time now.
“Even the number of vendors in this segment has also declined. However, during the second quarter we saw multiple vendors inking agreement for enterprise or institutional purchase which is of
course a good sign,” he said.
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Wi-Fi hotspots in Kochi not generating traffic
Special Correspondent
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The BSNL on Tuesday conceded that the Wi-Fi service launched by it in tandem with the city corporation at nearly a dozen spots was underutilised.
While the existing centres would continue to have the service, the company would not shift its focus to providing Wi-Fi to bulk users and under sponsorship, maintained Principal General Manager
G. Muraleedharan. “It’s not viable for the vendor otherwise, as users are seen making use of the free subscription and logging out soon after. Data traffic is therefore pretty low,” he rued.
The company had already begun offering bulk Wi-Fi to corporates on their premises and areas where the service was sponsored by corporates under CSR.
The company has already begun offering bulk Wi-Fi to corporates on their premises
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BSNL to offer 3G facility in Kannur area
Special Correspondent
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70 per cent of BTS towers in Kannur, Kasaragod and Mahe to be 3G-enabled
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has begun works to upgrade 70 per cent of its existing base transceiver station (BTS) towers in Kannur, Kasaragod and Mahe to 3G-enabled ones.
The areas come under BSNL’s Kannur business area (BSA). The upgrading would be done in 792 towers.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, BSNL Kannur BSA General Manager (GM) N.K. Sukumaran said 50 per cent of the total BTS towers had already been upgraded and
work to upgrade 67 more towers was in progress. The next phase would be to upgrade 165 towers. The GM also said efforts were being accelerated to install 5G WiFi hotspot facility in the area.
First phase
In the first phase, 70 towers had been identified for the new system, he said, adding the facility would be available under 10 of these towers before Onam including four towers in Kannur
Corporation.
The facility would allow the public to access the Internet service for 15 minutes free of cost followed by paid service at nominal charges, he added.
Mr. Sukumaran said the recent schemes and tariff plans announced by the BSNL were expected to increase the customer base of the BSNL in the BSA.
The introduction of the 24-hour free call service to all networks on Sundays since August 15 and the daily free call facility from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. had turned 50 per cent of the total weekly call time
charges-free, he said.
Fibre optic phone connections having speed up to 100 Mbps were being provided at Kannur, Kasaragod, Thalassery, Talliparamba, and Kanhangad, he said, adding the BSNL had begun
discussions with local cable TV operators to provide optical fibre connections in rural areas.
The GM said the fair usage policy (FUP) limit had been increased for some broadband connection plans. Moreover, the data speed of 512 Kbps after the FUP limit had been increased to 1
Mbps.
The existing data speed of users under all the broadband plans had also been increased.
The next phase
will be to upgrade 165 BTS towers
in Kannur to
3-G enabled ones.
=================
BSNL launches ‘Experience Landline 49 Plan’
August 24, 2016
Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 23
BSNL Nagaland SSA today announced a slew of promotional offers and packages for the state of Nagaland including the newly launched ‘Experience Landline 49 Plan.’
Addressing a press conference here at GMTD BSNL Nagaland SSA, General Manager, J Lunkim, informed that the promotional offer for acquiring new Landline connection at the rate of Rs. 49
per month has been launched for a period of 90 days with effect from 15.08.2016. The installation charge for the new connection has been “waived off and a free BSNL prepaid SIM card will be
provided”, the GM said.
Lunkim informed that with effect from August 15, BSNL has launched ‘Unlimited Free Calling’ on all Sundays from BSNL landline phones to all networks to promote its landline phones.
“Optimization process of 3G BTSs are under progress in Kohima and Dimapur city including Kohima-Dimapur highway to attend the call drops and to increase the data sped comparable to 4G”,
stated a press release issued to media persons.
The release also informed that BSNL has increased the download speed for Fair Usage Policy (FUP) quota under unlimited broadband plan from existing 512 kbps to 1 Mbps.
“In the last few months, BSNL has been consistently providing highest growth with respect to subscriber addition in mobile segment. The aggressive and competitive tariff has helped BSNL to
increase its market share. BSNL is cheapest in data tariff”, the company claimed.
BSNL officials also informed that the telecom company has launched ‘New Student Plan’ of Rs. 118/- w.e.f. 20.06.2016 which allows 1 GB data for 30 days with call rate of 10 paisa per minute.
Further, BSNL informed that the stability of media between Kohima and Dimapur has been ensured with introduction of new equipment and working quite satisfactorily at present.
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BSNL unveils 4G plan for Chennai
Special Correspondent
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Telecom major to instal 300 towers for rolling out the services by March next
BSNL will set up about 300 4G towers in Chennai by March 2017 to enable the public sector enterprise to provide 4G mobile services, a top official of Chennai Telephones, a part of BSNL, said
on Monday.
“We will also be entering the 4G space. Tenders will be floated to set up 300 4G towers in Chennai. By March 2017, our 4G towers will, hopefully, be installed and ready for service roll outs,” S.M.
Kalavathi, Chief General Manager, Chennai Telephones, said at a press conference on Monday.
Ms. Kalavathi said they had launched 45 4G wi-fi hotspots in Chennai.
The department had identified 40 places in Chennai to expand their broadband network.
“Out of these, we have started work at three places,” she said. About the turnaround time to set right faults in the broadband connections when customers raised issues, the CGM said it took about
one to three days for faults to be rectified.
“But nowadays, people are not able to live without internet for even half-an-hour. We are aware of this huge turnaround time. We are working to bring this down to a day or less than a day,” she
said.
She said that some staff were asked to work on Sundays to ensure broadband faults were looked into. “There are many married people who are at work all through the week and Sunday is the
only day when any complaint can be resolved. We have a few people working on Sundays. We hope to increase the number of people and increase the number of Sundays we work on,” Ms.
Kalavathi added.
BSNL added 20 lakh mobile connections a month in the past three months, she said.
“It has 11 to 12 per cent market share in the Chennai region,” she said.
Ms. Kalavathi said Indian Bank had adopted two villages in Minjur and Athur under their Corporate Social Responsibility programme, to provide digital access.
BSNL was providing the wi-fi hotspots in these villages, she said and added that more such villages were considered to be adopted by other corporates.
======================
BSNL on a mission; to conduct melas to increase customer base
Special Correspondent
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Aiming to increase customer base, the Bharath Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Karimnagar district unit, has decided to conduct mega melas at places across the district and distribute free SIM
cards to customers on Wednesday.
Disclosing this to newsmen here on Tuesday, DGM (planning) V. Pitchaiah said they have a target of making 5,000 new consumers enrol by providing free SIM cards on the spot during mega
melas. He said during the earlier mega mela, the BSNL Karimnagar district topped in the State with highest distribution of more than 5,000 SIM cards. Explaining their expansion programme, he
said they were planning to provide 3G data signal in all the mandals soon.
Stating that the BSNL had over 1.6 lakh landline phone connections in the district before the advent of cellular phone, he said landline connections have now come down to 20,000 and pre-paid
cellular connections to 3.8 lakh while post-paid connections to 22,000. He said they were taking all measures to bring back the landline telephone consumers to BSNL fold and announced
Experience LL-49 landline plan with monthly rental of only Rs. 49 up to six months.
He said that the BSNL had also announced ULD-470 broadband plan with 2 Mbps speed having additional facilities such as unlimited free calling to any network on all Sundays and from 9 p.m. to
7 a.m. on all other days. He also said they would soon introduce 4G network in Karimnagar district. DGM (finance) V. Rambabu, AGM (admn) M. Narsaiah, AGM (marketing) Ravindranath and
others were also present.
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BSNL mega mela on Aug. 30
Special Correspondent
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Buoyed by the overwhelming response to the last mega mela for distribution of free BSNL SIM, the public sector telecom service provider is coming out with another mela on August 30.
Over 7,000 SIMs were distributed on a single day in Visakhapatnam Telecom District during the mega mela held in July. “Visakhapatnam secured 7{+t}{+h}place at the All-India level in the
distribution of free SIMs and we are geared for the next round of free SIM distribution and are optimistic of a similar response”, Senior General Manager Nalini Verma told the media here on
Tuesday.
BNSL has introduced several innovative schemes for the promotion of landline services. The ‘LL 49’ plan, introduced during the recent Independence Day, was intended to draw new landline
customers. Under this plan, new customers would have to pay fixed monthly charges of Rs.49 for the first six months after which their number would be converted to the General Plan.
There would be no free calls under this plan and the call charges to BSNL network would be Re.1 and to other networks Re.1.20 per unit. There would be no installation charges. The subscribers
under this plan would also enjoy the free night calling facility and free calling on Sundays, like other BSNL landline subscribers.
Broadband speed
The speed for all broadband connections, after reaching the maximum speed limit (FUP), would be 1 Mbps, instead of 512 Kbps. The upgradation was done to enhance customer experience. A
new landline plus broadband combo plan (Plan 470), introduced last month, would enable broadband users to get a rent-free landline connection for Rs.470 a month.
===============
BSNL to launch 4G services in Odisha: Report
by: Anil Satapathy, The Mobile Indian,New Delhi | Last Updated: Wednesday, August 24, 2016 - 10:51
Airtel and Idea have recently expanded their 4G footprint in Odisha.
State run telecom operator, BSNL will roll out its 4G services in Odisha soon, according to a report of New Indian Express.
"Initially BSNL will start with Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and later expand 4G services to other parts of the State," CGM BSNL Odisha Circle Satyananda Naik was quoted as saying in the report.
Idea and Airtel had rolled out 4G services in the eastern state earlier this year. Airtel 4G services are available in eight towns of the state including Jharsuguda, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Balasore,
Rourkela, Brahmapur, Sambalpur and Puri. Idea's 4G services are available in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Baleswar, Jharsuguda, Jatni, Khurda, Sambalpur, Brahmapur, Rourkela, Bhadrak,
Rajagangpur, and Sundargarh.
Recently, BSNL announced some attractive schemes to increase its customer base. It has recently introduced free unlimited calling from BSNL landline to any landline and mobile network of any
service provider on Sundays on pan India basis starting August 15. As per reports, it has also recently upgraded its minimum broadband speed to one Mbps.
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BSNL to launch 4G services in Kerala by March 2017
As a part of BSNL’s expansion at the Phase-8 pan-India level, Kerala will be equipped with BSNL’s 4G services by March 2017. A total of 663 4G towers will be installed and initiatives to expand
2G and 3G services are also in the works.
By PTI on Aug 24, 2016 at 10:45 AM
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mobile-phone
BSNL is gearing up to offer 4G services in Kerala by March 2017, a company official said. The 4G plan would be introduced as part of BSNL’s expansion at the Phase-8 pan-India level and a
tender for it has already been called for, the official added. A set of 190 new Wi-Fi access points would also be implemented in the state circle during the current financial year. “4G will be
introduced in select cities in Kerala circle by next March. As part of this, 663 4G towers will be installed,” BSNL Chief General Manager, Kerala Circle, R Mani told reporters. Mani further said that
besides introduction of 4G, initiatives to expand the existing 2G and 3G services are also in the offing.
Detailing the Phase-8 expansion plans in the circle, Mani elaborated, “Another 1,083 new 3G sites will be launched in the state. All old technology 2G sites will be replaced with new technology 2G
sites.” BSNL claims that its 3G speed is much faster than the 4G services offered by many private players. On Wi-Fi service expansion, Mani said that BSNL’s Kerala circle has implemented 160
Wi-Fi access points at 93 locations and another 190 points will be implemented during the current financial year.
All these sites are MDO (mobile date offloading) enabled that gives Wi-Fi access to mobile customers. He said that for BSNL, Kerala is the highest profit making circle in the country with a profit
of Rs 658 crore in 2015-16, against Rs 486 crore during 2014-15, a growth of over 35 percent. To stimulate growth in landlines, BSNL announced new plans and offers like unlimited Night Free
calls and unlimited calls on Sundays.
“In order to encourage new subscribers and bring back our old customers who switched to other players, we have introduced the LL49 Experience plan with a fixed monthly charge of just Rs 49 for
the first six months,” he said adding BSNL SIM card is also offered free to customers subscribing to this plan. BSNL Kerala circle has a mobile customer base of 80.5 lakh including 78.2 lakh
pre-paid and 2.3 lakh post-paid ones. Its landline customer base is 20.72 lakh and total broadband connection is 6.60 lakh.
===========================
This BSNL call centre diverts calls from 112 to police control room
5 days ago | Published by : Renu Ratheesh
This-BSNL-call-centre-diverts-calls-from-112-to-police-control-room---indialivetoday
Bangalore, August 24: Dial 100 in an emergency! But these days, it seems the emergency could be anything from barking dogs to personal woes, and the ones confused by the flood of calls are
the city police.
Over the past three months, the Bengaluru police control room has been flooded with callers asking about mobile recharge options and other civic-related issues.
Blame it on the new emergency universal number (112), which was started as a pilot project in the city, reports thehindu.com.
Robin Poddar, General Manager, BSNL (IT, Grievance Management) admitted that there is a problem. The BSNL call centre is diverting all calls from 112 to the police control room instead of to
the department concerned.
On an average, the police control room gets 40,000 calls a day, but over the last few months, 17,000 are about unrelated issues. “Every distress call takes at least 15 minutes to resolve, as we
also keep track of the patrolling Hoysala vehicles.
But nowadays, I’m getting calls about choked drains,” said one control command centre staffer. The city police command centre has shot off a letter to BSNL, their service provider, to withdraw the
pilot project until the problems are ironed out. “We have raised the issue with BSNL twice.
Now, we have written to them warning that we will find a new service provider it it’s not rectified,” said M. G. Nagendra Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (command centre).
Mr. Poddar told The Hindu that the matter has been communicated to higher-ups, as it has to be taken up with the home ministry.
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BSNL raises minimum broadband speed to 1Mbps post data usage
Love browsing the World Wide Web at blazing speeds, but fret when the speed drops once you have crossed the data limit?Jaideep Shenoy | TNN | Aug 25, 2016, 09.00 AM IST
Newsletter
A A
MANGALURU: Love browsing the World Wide Web at blazing speeds, but fret when the speed drops once you have crossed the data limit? Fret not! With TRAI recommending 2mbps as
minimum broadband speed and Centre too looking to mandate a four-fold increase in minimum broadband speed - from 512 kbps to 2 mbps, state owned Telecom Company BSNL has already
made the move by pegging the minimum broadband speed post data usage limit to 1mbps.
Incidentally, Karnataka circle of BSNL offers 15 landline broadband plans to suit the diverse usage needs of its customers - both in terms of data downloads and speed - with monthly charges
ranging from minimum of Rs 699 to maximum of Rs 3,445. Hitherto, the speed offered dropped to 512 kbps once the consumer had exceeded the prescribed limit or was required to top up to get
the same speed as per their plan for rest of the duration during a particular billing cycle.
But signaling a change and in sync with the NDA government's vision of Digital India, BSNL has since pegged the minimum speed post data usage at 1mbps, which users know is any day better
than the painfully download speed of 512 kbps. Incidentally, the last time minimum internet speed was revised was in August 2014 when it was doubled from 256 kbps to 512 kbps. "This move will
certainly ensure better customer retention," avers G R Ravi, GM, DK telecom district.
The telecom district is also shifting its focus from providing landline broadband using copper wire infrastructure to Fiber to the Home mode. FTTH incidentally is delivery of communications signal
over optical fiber from operator's switching equipment all the way to a home or business, thereby replacing existing copper infrastructure such as telephone wires and coaxial cable. "This will
ensure better speeds and reliable broadband connection to consumers," Ravi pointed.
There is no limit to (broad band) speed using FTTH, Ravi said adding the telecom district which has already provided 3,000 such connections in the two revenue districts of Udupi and Dakshina
Kannada that come under its jurisdiction, has plans to provide additional 6,000 FTTH connections. "The speed drops with distance from the telephone exchange when copper infrastructure is
used," he said adding the district is making a conscious move towards FTTH connections.
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BSNL offers 100% more data for same price on select pack
These offers will be available by August 25.Aug 24, 2016, 06.09 PM IST
Newsletter
A A
By: Bhagyashree Nair
New Delhi: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has doubled data usage limits of its Rs549 data pack to 10 GB from 5 GB data with validity of 30 days, a 100% increase in data benefits to
subscribers.
It also announced the launch of unlimited 3G Data pack without any speed restrictions for all prepaid mobile customers for just Rs 1099 with validity of 30 days, claiming that it is a first of its kind
occurrence in the telecom industry.
BSNL also launched a cost effective pack of Rs. 156, which offers 2 GB data for 10 days.
These offers will be available by August 25.
R.K.Mittal, Director of the BSNL Board, said that the company hopes to serve data customers by massively reducing data tariff and by introducing unlimited data packs.
"The offer is unique and the sole purpose is to enable every section of the society with high speed Internet at affordable prices. Last year, BSNL had also facilitated the customer by offering 80%
cheaper voice tariff," he said.
======================
BSNL makes data cheaper by 100%
After the top three private telecom operators made data tariffs cheaper by 67 per cent, it’s the turn of state-run BSNL to reduce rates by up to 100 per cent.
The move by the operators is to protect their turf against the imminent entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm and also increase data consumption.
BSNL, which has been staging a turnaround with additions of customers in the last few months, is taking a slew of customer-centric initiatives to become more competitive.
BSNL has doubled data usages of its popular data special tariff voucher (STV) to 10 GB. Earlier it provided 5 GB data for the same price of Rs 549, with validity for one month (30 days).
It is equivalent to 100 per cent increase in data benefits to subscribers.
In addition, the company has also announced the launch of unlimited 3G data STV without any speed restrictions for all prepaid mobile customers for Rs 1,099 with validity of one month (30 days),
which is a first of its kind in the telecom sector.
Another new data STV of Rs 156 has also been launched. It provides 2 GB data for 10 days. These offers will be available across the country effective from 25 August.
“The BSNL offer is unique and its sole purpose is to enable every section of the society with high-speed internet at affordable prices. Last year, BSNL had also facilitated the customer by offering
80 per cent cheaper voice tariff,” said RK Mittal director, BSNL.
Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm has announced it would launch commercial fourth-generation technology (4G) services soon. Analysts have said data rates are expected to fall 15
-20 per cent with the entry of Jio
Jio has said it already has under its preview offer about 1.5 million test-users, with average monthly consumption of each in excess of 26 GB; voice usage is 355 minutes.
==============================
BSNL bid to retain landline users in TN
Our Bureau
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Meets nearly 50,000 customers under its Nalandaana programme
Chennai, August 24:
In a bid to stop customers from surrendering their telephone landlines, officials of BSNL Tamil Nadu are visiting them at their doorsteps to understand the problems faced by them, and rectify them
immediately.
As part of its Meet and Greet ‘Nalandhaana’ (Are you fine? in Tamil) programme launched on July 1, officials have met nearly 50,000 customers across the circle — Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,
excluding Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram.
N Poonguzhali, Chief General Manager, BSNL Tamil Nadu Circle, told newsperons that last financial year, around 1.20 lakh land line customers left BSNL while the addition was around 2.40 lakh.
“Meeting customers at their homes will be a continuous exercise to improve our service and understand their problems,” she said.
Poonguzhali said those who surrendered their landline did so due to quality of services and shifting to mobile services. “Even in villages, people prefer mobile phone over landline. We have
embarked on a major confidence building exercise to retain existing customers and add new customers,” she said.
BSNL had introduced free night calls from 9 pm to 7 am to any network for landline customers. In addition, from August 15, it has announced Sunday Unlimited Free calling from BSNL landline to
any network across the country. This will enable landline customers to continuously stay in touch with their friends and relatives for 34 hours — from Saturday 9 pm to Monday 7 am, she said.
Other initiatives
The other other major initiatives include a new landline scheme for ₹49 per month as fixed monthly charge for a limited period of three months with no installation charges and upward revision of
download speed after Fair Usage Plan.
For mobile customers, BSNL is offering an unlimited free data usage without speed restriction. This is valid for 30 days at ₹1,099, she said.
Poonguzhali said in Tamil Nadu circle, 62 locations have been provided with Wi-Fi hotspots with 102 access points, and plans to add another 200 by September. For the first 15 minutes, Wi-Fi is
free, and thereafter, it is chargeable, she said.
Rise in profit
Last financial year, BSNL Tamil Nadu circle earned an operating profit of ₹82.31 crore as against ₹51.39 crore in the previous year. Revenue saw a 3 per cent growth to ₹2,055 crore. In the first
quarter this year, the circle has reported a 3.8 per cent growth in revenue to ₹480 crore, she said.
======================
BSNL identifies 63 places to introduce Wi-Fi hotspots in Belagavi
TOI Hubli Wed,24 Aug 2016
BSNL identifies 63 places to introduce Wi-Fi hotspots in Belagavi
Summary: BELAGAVI: Bharatiya Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has identified 63 places to install Wi-Fi Hotspots in Belagavi district in which 43 are in city.Addressing the press conference
here on Wednesday, Deepak Tayal, senior general manager of BSNL said four Wi-Fi Hotspots will be introduced within short period under MP fund. Since the up-gradation, total internet data
consumption in Belagavi district has been increased by 20%. Already 171 GPs have been commissioned especially in Bailhongal, Belagavi and Khanapur taluks. BSNL is also offering free
prepaid sim card along with this plan. This apart, BSNL has introduced 'unlimited free calls (24 hours)' on Sundays to any operating company within India besides 'unlimited free night calls'
scheme from 9pm to 7am every day.
BELAGAVI: Bharatiya Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has identified 63 places to install Wi-Fi Hotspots in Belagavi district in which 43 are in city.Addressing the press conference here on
Wednesday, Deepak Tayal, senior general manager of BSNL said four Wi-Fi Hotspots will be introduced within short period under MP fund. The places are - railway station and central bus
terminus of Belagavi, government degree colleges in KK Kopp in Belagavi taluk and another government degree college at Ramdurg.As a part of Digital India Programme, BSNL is laying optical
fibre cable under National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project in entire Belagavi district to provide high-speed broadband service through FTTH technology connecting all 485 gram
panchayats. Already 171 GPs have been commissioned especially in Bailhongal, Belagavi and Khanapur taluks.
There are new 35 villages upgraded as GPs recently and optical fibre cable will be extended to all those new GPs, officer added.As far as concerned to providing quality internet services to
customers, all 106 Base Transceiver Centres (BTS) in the district have been upgraded to 3G from 2G network recently. Since the up-gradation, total internet data consumption in Belagavi district
has been increased by 20%. "We are also focussing on improving the quality and BSNL share in the telecom market", Tayal said.He highlighted the Plan 49 introduced for new landline customers
under which customers avail new landline connection by paying fixed monthly charges of just Rs 49 for first six months.
====================
BSNL cuts mobile data rates
Thursday, 25 August 2016 | PNS
0
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has doubled data usage of its popular data STV to 10 GB, which was earlier providing 5 GB data in the same cost for just Rs549 with validity of one
month. It is equivalent to 100% increase in data benefits to subscribers.
In addition, BSNL has also announced the launch of Unlimited 3G Data STV wthout any speed restrictions for all prepaid mobile customers for just Rs1,099 with validity of one month. This is first of
its kind in the telecom industry. BSNL is leading in mobile service initiatives by giving unlimited data tariff without keeping any speed restriction by introducing new data STVs in Indian market.
The director (CM) BSNL board, Mr R.K.Mittal, said “The BSNL offer is unique and the sole purpose is to enable every section of the society with high speed Internet at affordable prices. By
massive reduction in data tariff and introduction of unlimited data STVs, BSNL hopes to serve data customers, mainly the youth segment, in a much better way.”pns
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BSNL joins data war, slashes rates and doubles usage
By ENS Economic Bureau
Published: 25th August 2016 03:29 AM
Last Updated: 25th August 2016 03:29 AM
0
NEW DELHI: State-run BSNL has joined the data war being fought across the telecome sector by cutting 3G data plan rates, doubling usage limits for certain plans and announcing a national
unlimited 3G mobile data plan for Rs 1,099 on Wednesday.
“Due to improvement in network, BSNL has been gaining customers. We are now first in the industry to offer unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1,099 without reduction in speed. This will rejoice our
customers and help them experience improved BSNL networks,” BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said.
BSNL has also has doubled data usage in Rs 549 plan for 3G service to 10 GB from 5 GB in order to counter private telecom operators’ strategy of slashing data rates by up to 67 per cent. “The
plan has validity of 30 days and is equivalent to 100 per cent increase in data benefits to subscribers,” Shrivastava said. The telecom firm has also increased by 100 per cent 3G data usage in its
Rs 156 plan to 2 GB, valid for 10 days.
“Last year, BSNL had also facilitated the customer by offering 80 per cent cheaper voice tariff. By massive reduction in data tariff and introduction of unlimited data STVs (Special Tariff Vouchers),
BSNL hopes to serve data customers, mainly the youth segment in a much better way,” BSNL Board Director (CM) RK Mittal said.
In July, private telecom majors like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular increased their data benefits to customers on almost all 3G/4G plans by up to 67 per cent to counter the threat from
Reliance Jio.
BSNL meanwhile, has added the most number of subscribers in April for a third month in a row, as per data released by telecom regulator Trai. Growth in mobile segment in April was led by BSNL
which added 11.39 lakh subscribers followed by Bharti Airtel (9.78 lakh), Aircel (5.72 lakh), Reliance Communications (1.1 lakh), Vodafone (46,600), Quadrant (Videocon group firm - 25,012) and
MTNL (11,591).
================
BSNL to launch two new schemes to attract customers
Staff Correspondent
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Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. has decided to introduce two new schemes to increase its landline connectivity.
R.H. Kai, Deputy General Manager, Bagalkot division, told presspersons that under ‘Plan 49’, new landline connections could be taken by paying Rs. 49 a month for the first six months.
Free calls
Under another scheme, existing and new subscribers would be allowed to make free calls to mobile or landline numbers any where in the country for free on Sundays. “Earlier, subscribers were
offered free unlimited phone calls from their landline numbers between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. every day. This is an extension of that scheme,” he said.
Subscriber base
Mr. Kai, however, admitted that the subscriber base in Vijayapura and Bagalkot districts had reduced by around 2,000 this year.
From next year, BSNL is planning to introduce 4G facility for mobile operators, he added.
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BSNL launches unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1,099
— By PTI | Aug 25, 2016 05:10 am
FOLLOW US:
New Delhi: To counter competitors, state-run BSNL on Wednesday announced a national unlimited 3G mobile data plan for Rs 1,099 and doubled the data usage limit in some existing plans.
“Due to improvement in network, BSNL has been gaining customers. We are now first in the industry to offer unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1,099 without reduction in speed. This will rejoice our
customers and help them experience improved BSNL networks,” BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said. BSNL added most number of subscribers in April for a third
month in a row, as per data released by telecom regulator Trai. Growth in mobile segment in April was led by BSNL which added 11.39 lakh subscribers followed by Bharti Airtel (9.78 lakh), Aircel
(5.72 lakh), Reliance Communications (1.1 lakh), Vodafone (46,600), Quadrant (Videocon group firm – 25,012) and MTNL (11,591).
To counter private telecom operators’ strategy of slashing data rates by up to 67 per cent, BSNL has doubled data usage in Rs 549 plan for 3G service to 10 GB from 5 GB, reports PTI.“The plan
has validity of 30 days and is equivalent to 100 per cent increase in data benefits to subscribers,” Shrivastava said.
=====================
BSNL looks at Wi-Fi service to counter pvt operators
TNN | Aug 25, 2016, 10.03 AM IST
<p>Representative image<br></p>
Representative image
HUBBALLI: The Dharwad Circle of the BSNL has decided to set up 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across Dharwad, Haveri and Gadag districts by March 2017 to counter the launch of 4G services by
private service providers
Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, Vivek Jaiswal, general manager, Dharwad Circle, BSNL, said these hotspots will come with 10 mbps speed. He said that the BSNL wants to take its
network to every nook and corner of the three districts and necessary infrastructure is being created for the same. On complaints of weak signals on cities' outskirts, Jaiswal said that the BSNL is
planning to tie-up with cable operators to expand its network in such areas. He said the free Wi-Fi service provided at three places in Hubballi-Dharwad has received good response. "Around
1,200 to 1,300 people are accessing internet everyday at Old Bus Terminus in Hubballi. Hotspots at Shirur Park in Hubballi and Jubilee Circle in Dharwad are also being used extensively by the
customers," he added.
To attract new customers, the BSNL has introduced a promotional offer where a customer can get a new landline connection for just Rs 49 a month for the first six months. Thereafter, the monthly
charge will be as per the general plan in rural and urban areas, Jaiswal said.
The BSNL has also increased the minimum broadband speed to 1 mbps, he added. He said that the BSNL launched unlimited free calling on Sundays for its landline users on August 15 in
addition to free calling during night hours from 9pm to 7am every day.
==========================
BSNL slashes tariff by 50%, introduces unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1099
by: Nirupam Manik, The Mobile Indian,New Delhi | Last Updated: Friday, August 26, 2016 - 11:11
Previously we saw operators like Airtel and Vodafone cutting of their data plan tariffs resulting the increasing threat from Reliance Jio.
With Reliance Jio catching up all the customers, many of the other telecom operators have come up with cheap internet data plans. After Airtel who offered 10GB data at the rate of 1GB for
purchase of Galaxy J Series smartphone, BSNL has now introduced unlimited 3G plans without any reduction in speed. Not only this, the state owned company has also doubles the data usage in
some of the plans. In other words, the state run teleco has slashed by 50 per cent.
Talking about the Plans, the unlimited plan comes in at Rs 1,099. BSNL doubles the data from 5GB to 10GB in the Rs 549 plan and also increased the data from 1GB to 2GB in Rs 156 plan. The
Rs 549 plan has validity of 30 days, whereas the Rs 156 plan has validity of 10 days only.
"Due to improvement in network, BSNL has been gaining customers. We are now first in the industry to offer unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1,099 without reduction in speed. This will rejoice [sic] our
customers and help them experience improved BSNL networks," BSNL chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava commented while revealing these new tariffs.
BSNL Board Director (CM) RK Mittal said: "Last year, BSNL had also facilitated the customer by offering 80 percent cheaper voice tariff. By massive reduction in data tariff and introduction of
unlimited data STVs (Special Tariff Vouchers), BSNL hopes to serve data customers, mainly the youth segment in a much better way,"
While growth in mobile connection subscription was led by Airtel in the month of July, it was BSNL back in April with net additions of about 11.4 lakh users followed by Bharti Airtel with 9.78 lakh
users and Aircel with 5.72 lakh users.
Previously we saw operators like Airtel and Vodafone cutting of their data plan tariffs resulting the increasing threat from Reliance Jio who is offering free unlimited 4G data and Calls for 90 days.
Today, the preview offer was further extended to smartphones from ASUS, Alcatel and TCL.
=======================
SIM Card-On-Arrival For Tourists On E-Visa Likely By September End
All India | Press Trust of India | Updated: August 25, 2016 22:27 IST
COMMENTS
SIM Card-On-Arrival For Tourists On E-Visa Likely By September End
The amount of money to be loaded in the SIM card it is yet to decided. (Representational Image)
New Delhi: Foreign travellers to India arriving on e-tourist visa are likely to get a SIM card from September-end, with the Home Ministry giving its nod and roping in state-run BSNL for the purpose.
"We had a number of meetings with the Home Ministry with regard to providing SIM card to foreigner tourists when they land in India. The ministry has finally agreed to our proposal. Now, it will
take some time to start the facility," Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said.
The move is aimed at projecting India as a global tourist destination among foreign travellers as well as addressing the security concerns by equipping the tourists with mobile phones to make
calls in case of any distress, an official said.
Foreign tourists face problems while procuring a SIM card, making them dependent on telephone booths. The facility would address this concern as well, he said.
The SIM card, preloaded with talktime amount, will come with a 'welcome kit' which would also consist of 'dos and don'ts list', maps, tourism booklets with information about various tourist
destinations and details of whom to contact in case of emergency, the official said.
However, according to a source, the amount of money to be loaded in the SIM card it is yet to decided.
"The e-tourist visa holders could get the welcome kit which would include a SIM card from BSNL counter as soon as they come out the airport. BSNL has agreed...the last level discussion is going
on," Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi said.
"I think the facility would be launched by September-end, probably on World Tourism Day (which falls on September 27)," he said.
Under the e-tourist visa scheme, an applicant receives an email authorising him or her to travel to India and he or she can travel with a print-out of this authorisation. On arrival, the visitor has to
present the letter to the immigration authorities who would then stamp the entry into the country.
Launched on November 27, 2014, the facility was initially available for citizens of 113 countries arriving at 16 airports in India. From February 26, the scheme was extended for citizens of 37 more
countries.
The e-tourist visa facility is gaining popularity among foreign travellers. It recorded over 200 per cent rise, with 68,400 people availing the facility in July compared to 21,476 during the
corresponding month last year.
Last month, the UK occupied the top slot in availing the e-visa facility, followed by the US and France.
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BSNL launches new schemes
Special Correspondent
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As part of its month-long celebrations of “Service with a smile”, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has launched two new schemes, including one with free unlimited calls on Sundays for
landline customers. General Manager of Dharwad Telecom District of BSNL Vivek Jaiswal told presspersons here on Tuesday that under Plan 49, landline connection was being offered at a rental
of Rs. 49 per month for the first six months and it would come with a free prepaid SIM card.
Mr. Jaiswal said that under the scheme, there would be no installation charges for landline connections and the scheme could be availed of on a visit to BSNL customer service centres.
Customer friendly
He said that as a customer friendly initiative, BSNL has upgraded broadband speed to a minimum 1 Mbps after high speed FUP (Fair Usage Policy) quota at no additional cost, for all existing
broadband customers who were under the BB plan of post FUP speed of 512 kbps.
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BSNL doubles data limits for 3G plans, offers unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1099
#BSNL
BSNL doubles data limits for 3G plans, offers unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1099
0
26 Aug 2016 , 09:14
To counter competitors, state-run BSNL today announced a national unlimited 3G mobile data plan for Rs 1,099 and doubled the data usage limit in some existing plans. “Due to improvement in
network, BSNL has been gaining customers. We are now first in the industry to offer unlimited 3G plan for Rs 1,099 without any reduction in speed. This will rejoice our customers and help them
experience improved BSNL networks,” BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said.
BSNL added most number of subscribers in April for the third month in a row, as per data released by telecom regulator Trai. Growth in mobile segment in April was led by BSNL which added
11.39 lakh subscribers followed by Bharti Airtel (9.78 lakh), Aircel (5.72 lakh), Reliance Communications (1.1 lakh), Vodafone (46,600), Quadrant (Videocon group firm – 25,012) and MTNL
(11,591).
To counter private telecom operators ‘ strategy of slashing data rates by up to 67%, BSNL has doubled data usage in Rs 549 plan for 3G service to 10 GB from 5 GB. “The plan has validity of 30
days and is equivalent to 100% increase in data benefits to subscribers,” Shrivastava said. The telecom firm has doubled 3G data usage in Rs 156 plan to 2 GB which will be valid for 10 days.
“Last year, BSNL had also facilitated the customer by offering 80% cheaper voice tariff. By massive reduction in data tariff and an introduction of unlimited data STVs (Special Tariff Vouchers),
BSNL hopes to serve data customers, mainly the youth segment in a much better way,” BSNL Board Director (CM) RK Mittal said. In July, private telecom majors — Bharti Airtel , Vodafone, and
Idea Cellular — increased data usage limit in some of their 3G/4G plans by up to 67% to counter the threat from Reliance Jio which is offering 90 days free unlimited data and phone call service.
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PMO unlikely to interfere in Trai’s business: Report
#TRAI
PMO unlikely to interfere in Trai’s business: Report
Image: PTI
0
By tech2 News Staff / 26 Aug 2016 , 09:57
In a more recent update to the whole Vodafone India, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular versus Jio versus Trai row, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) may in all likelihood decline the (Cellular Operators
Association of India) COAI’s request for a meeting reported the Economic Times.
The CAOI had requested for a meeting with Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister over concerns regarding the consultation papers floated by Trai. A senior official
commented stating that the government believed in the independence of all regulators and that it will choose not to interfere in Trai’s functioning. “Our writ does not run over regulators,” he said.
The the request for a meeting was sent across on 11 August but an official at a leading telco claimed that the COAI has not received any confirmation from the PMO just yet.
In its letter, COAI penned down down its observations against Trai stating that the recent consultation papers on the abolition of mobile termination charges, termination of internet telephony
charges and even the one on quality of service were against existing telcos (hinting at Reliance’s Jio).
Indeed all of this comes in the midst of a war between telcos Vodafone India, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance’s Jio as the latter prepares for its 4G launch
Even state-run BSNL yesterday put up its dukes and announced an unlimited 3G plan in preparation for what Reliance has on offer, the tariffs of which could be a blow to the rest of the telcos.
===========================
Many offers from BSNL
Special Correspondent
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New BSNL landline connections now come with a slew of offers. There will be no installation charges for those availing new connections. Under the scheme christened ‘Experience Landline 49,’
launched to attract more landline subscribers, whatever the call cost, a fixed rate of only Rs.49 will be charged for the first six months.
The new subscriber has to pay Rs.600 for the instrument. A statement from the BSNL General Manager’s office here on Thursday stated that the call rates will be Re.1 per minute to BSNL network
numbers and Rs.1.20 to other networks. There is also a free pre-paid SIM card as gift. The new landline customers will be entitled to all other offers available to the existing landline customers.
This includes a free call facility to all networks between 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. and free calls throughout the day on Sunday. Those opting for BSNL broadband service can now purchase modems at
slashed rates. In the mobile there is a student plan for Rs.118. Interested persons can call number 9400054141 for details.
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After Google, Facebook to offer free WiFi at Indian railway stations
DECCAN CHRONICLE.
Published Aug 26, 2016, 11:20 am IST
Updated Aug 26, 2016, 11:21 am IST
Facebook is looking towards connecting with Indian Railways to provide WiFi across railway stations.
Facebook recently concluded a set of pilot internet services across 125 rural locations after purchasing bandwidth from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL).
Facebook recently concluded a set of pilot internet services across 125 rural locations after purchasing bandwidth from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL).
Google recently revealed that close to 1.5 million people were using the free WiFi provided by them at 19 railways stations in India. While, the search giant expects over 10 million Indians to use
its free WiFi service at railways stations by the end of 2016; there is another company which is set to share the respective share of users.
RK Bahuguna, Chairman of Indian Railways’ communications arm, RailTel, told Economics Times, that the former was in talks with Facebook for expanding its WiFi coverage not only to railways
stations but to villages in the vicinity as well.
The operation is easy as RailTel has a readily available optic fibre-based network across over 4,000 railway stations in the country. This way, RailTel is capable of providing data services up to a
10km radius from rail stops and through the use of additional access points, this can easily be extended by up to 25km via additional access points.
Facebook also recently concluded a set of pilot internet services across 125 rural locations after purchasing bandwidth from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL).
====================
BSNL cuts mobile data rate with increased benefits
Posted on 27/08/2016 by Dailyexcelsior
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 26: BSNL has doubled data usages of its popular data STV (Special Tariff Voucher) to 10 GB which was earlier providing 5 GB data in the same cost for just Rs 549 with validity of
one month (30 days). It is equivalent to 100 % increase in data benefits to subscribers.
In addition, BSNL has also announced the launch of unlimited 3G data STV without any speed restrictions for all prepaid mobile customers for just Rs 1099 with validity of one month (30days).
This is the first of its kind in Telecom industry. Cost effective new data STV of Rs 156 has also been launched which provides 2 GB data for 10 days. These offers will be available on PAN India
basis with effect from August 25.
BSNL is leading in mobile service initiatives by giving unlimited data tarrif without keeping any speed restriction by introducing new data STVs in Indian market
Commenting on the offers, Director (CM), BSNL Board, RK Mittal, said, “BSNL offers are unique and their sole purpose is to enable every section of the society with high speed internet at
affordable prices. By massive reduction in data tariff and introduction of unlimited data STVs, BSNL hopes to serve data customers mainly youth segment in much better way.”
He said that a complete range of Tariff plans and STVs offered by BSNL can be seen by visiting Mobile section at BSNL website www.bsnl.co.in.
==========
BSNL plans to set up 10 Wi-Fi hotspots in Uttara Kannada
The Central government owner Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limi ted (BSNL) has joined hands with the state government to develop tourism in Uttara Kannada districtTNN | Aug 27, 2016, 09.28 AM
IST
Newsletter
A A
Karwar: The Central government owner Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limi ted (BSNL) has joined hands with the state government to develop tourism in Uttara Kannada district .
GR Ravi, general manager, BSNL said that for the convenience of the tourists who visit the district, the BSNL has identified 10 places to set up Wi-Fi hotspots. The Wi-Fi hotspot will be initially set
up in the Government Medical College, Rabindranath Tagore beach, and Green Street bus terminus in Karwar. Other places where the proposed WiFi hotspots will come up are Anjuman
Engineering College hostel, market and Murudeshwar beach in Bhatkal, Om and Kudle beaches in Gokarna, and Kanagod Adarsh gram. This will help boost tourism in a big way, he said.
He said efforts are on to improve the quality of the mobile services. A new scheme to attract more customers to landline is also being implemented. Those who opt for the new landline service will
be charged just Rs 49 per month for the first six months and no installation fees will be charged. Customers can talk free of cost from 9pm to 7pm from Monday to Saturday and round the clock on
Sunday. A total of 124 new 3G sites have been approved in the district this year.
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BSNL bets on Plan 49 to bring back customers to landline business
Once the core of all telecommunication, landlines have gradually taken back seat with advent of mobile telephony.Jaideep Shenoy | Aug 29, 2016, 08.31 AM IST
Newsletter
A A
MANGALURU: State owned telecom company - BSNL is betting big on its recently launched plan 49 to bring back customers back to its landline operations. Once the core of all
telecommunication, landlines have gradually taken back seat with advent of mobile telephony. Promoted under the tag line 'Experience LL 49 Plan', a new customer opting for this plan is assured
of a host of benefits, explains G R Ravi, general manager, Dakshina Kannada telecom district.
For starters, installation is free. The new customer also gets a free prepaid BSNL SIM card. Six months from installation, the connection is converted to the general plan of the area concerned.
Usually, the general plan starts with monthly rental of Rs 240 for urban users and Rs 220 for rural users, he says adding the call rate per minute under this plan for local calls is Re 1 and Rs 1.20 for
STD. The offer launched on Independence Day is valid for 90 days, he noted.
With BSNL also having launched unlimited free calls to any network for 24-hours on all Sunday since August 15, a landline customer now has the opportunity to make calls free from 9pm on
Saturday to 7am on Monday, including the general free night calling offer from 9pm to 7am every day. "This will be an attractive proposition for customers who prefer to get in touch with their loved
and dear ones and weekends is the time when people are generally free," he said.
To make the offer even more attractive to new customers coming to its land line fold and to existing customers, BSNL has also allowed them to forward their mobile calls to local landline number
and avail crystal clear voice quality of incoming calls on their mobile at homes without any extra charge. The Rs 49 rental is cheaper than most mobile plans, he said, adding details on how to
divert call can be had on www.bsnl.co.in or by calling 1800-180-1503.
======================
BSNL launches Plan 49 for fixed-line customers
Monday 29 August 2016 | 09:49 CET | News
Indian state-owned operator BSNL has introduced its ‘Plan 49’, in an attempt to bring back customers back to its fixed-line services, ET reports. Customers who take up the 'Experience LL 49
Plan' will receive “a host of benefits”, ET reports, citing G R Ravi, general manager, Dakshina Kannada telecom district. The plan is available with no installation fee.
Subscribers will also receive a free prepay BSNL SIM card. Six months following service activation, the connection is converted to the general plan of the customer’s area. Usually, the general
plan starts with monthly rental of INR 240 for urban users and INR 220 for rural users, Ravi says. Local calls for Plan 49 subscribers are charged INR 1 and INR 1.20 for STD.
=====================
After visa on arrival, tourists traveling to India will get a local SIM card too
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Image: AFP/Getty Images
2016%2f08%2f25%2f67%2fuigbssi4.90a56By Manish Singh
2016-08-29 09:56:35 UTC
As the holiday season nears, India is fixing one of the most annoying problems that tourists visiting the country face - getting a local SIM card.
India's Union Home Ministry has sanctioned a proposal to give SIM cards to foreigners who visit India on e-tourist visas. The plan could be enforced by the end of September this year. “I think the
facility will probably be launched on World Tourism Day,” said Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi. September 27 is celebrated as the World Tourism Day.
Foreigners are currently required to go through a fairly lengthy procedure to get an Indian SIM card. A range of documents including a proof of identity, a photocopy of passport with valid visa
stamp, proof of address along with the address of local reference, and photographs among other details are required at the time of applying for a new connection. In addition, a traveler is also
required to do a tele-verification with the respective operator, which itself can take up to two days. If the new proposal gets approval, things could get a lot simpler and swifter.
The move comes as India attempts to attract more tourists. The country was the 38th most visited place in 2014 and tourism contributed as much as 6.77 percent to the country’s total GDP in
2014, according to the National Council for Applied Economic Research. In comparison, the IT-BPO industry, which the country focuses heavily on, accounts for 7.5 percent of the GDP.
State-owned telecom operator BSNL is likely to provide the service to foreigners, officials with the Tourism ministry said, adding that the discussion had reached the “last level.” In addition to a SIM
card, foreigners with an e-tourist visa will also be provided with maps, booklets with information about various destinations, and emergency contact numbers. The SIM card will be loaded with
some free credit, though the exact amount is yet to be decided.
Getting an e-tourist visa from the Indian government is fairly straightforward. Anyone who wants to visit the country needs to apply for the e-tourist visa four days ahead of their arrival. India allows
citizens of 150 nations to visit the country for tourism purposes via an e-tourist visa.
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