Data cards enhance mobile Net access

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: As India Inc rushes towards increasing productivity per employee, IT and communication products enabling wireless connectivity are rapidly flooding the marketplace. Data cards — which deliver broadband wireless capability to laptops and other computing devices — currently offered by telecom service operators like Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices and Airtel, among others, are empowering the mobile professional to access the internet anytime, anywhere.

Recently, a leading MNC in Bangalore placed a bulk order for data cards with a telecom operator that would enable its employees to log on to the internet in a wireless environment. This move is a step towards cutting office infrastructure costs and cuts down on time lost in travelling. In addition, data cards also bring in high levels of efficiency into the laptop user’s operations, claim manufacturers.

For instance, Tata Indicom’s recently launched VData Card that fits into the standard type II PCMCIA card slot in notebook PCs, offers data transfer speeds ranging from 40 Kbps upto 153 Kbps. Tata Teleservices COO for Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh Prabhat Pani says that such cards offered under a CDMA network are superior to that of GSM as they are self-sufficient for the user to help log on to the internet.

With competition, the cards also arrive in feature-rich formats that help them meet ‘complete connectivity requirements’ of the user — the VData card for instance, allows user to make and receive voice calls, exchange SMS and avail value added services like caller ID service.

Reliance Infocomm was the first to offer India’s wireless data card on its pan-India network. The data card was introduced by Reliance as part of its R Connect Internet service. With the pan-India CDMA2000 1x network, R Connect Data Card enables instant internet connectivity for laptops and other computing devices anytime, anywhere. The ready-to-use card was initially launched in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Primary users for these data cards are business travellers who need constant connectivity to the internet.

According Tata Teleservices’ Mr Pani, the IT workers form a large pool of such users, since they are already familiar with such products through their frequent overseas travel. “It may be just a matter of time for a common housewife to start using this card”, he says. The price ranges from a tag below Rs 10,000 offered by Tata Teleservices’ V-Card to Rs 14,700 of Reliance’s R Connect Data Card.