The state-owned telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) on Sunday launched next generation 3G mobile services in the country even as the private operators are still waiting to get spectrum through auction process. BSNL will be covering 700 cities in the phase-I of its 3G roll-out with a proposed investment of around Rs 2,700 crore, said IT minister, A Raja, at the soft-launch of 3G by BSNL in Chennai circle.
Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi marked the formal nation-wide launch by making the first video call to Raja at a function. The 85-year old DMK president, who is convalescing at a hospital here after a spine surgery, launched the services through video conferencing. Lauding Raja for unveiling the 3G services from Chennai, Karunanidhi said he was happy to note that public sector BSNL was launching the technology, which so far was available in developed nations, in the country.
While revealing the commercial launch of 3G in Chennai by mid of April, Raja said BSNL will also be launching 3G services in other cities including Lucknow, Agra, Dehradun, Ambala, Jammu, Shimla, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Patna, Durgapur, Haldia, Ranchi and Bhubaneswar by the end of February.
Raja expressed confidence that the group of ministers (GoM) will soon clear the decks for 3G auction to private players, enabling the telecom ministry to conduct the auction by March 31. Speaking about the nation-wide launch of mobile number portability (MNP) service, he said by August MNP services will be extended first in metros followed by other cities within the end 2009. The set target of 700 million telephone connections by 2010 can be comfortably achieved at the current pace, he emphatically said.
Raja announced that BSNL will be launching ?India golden 50? plan envisaging all India calling at a flat rate of 50 paise per minute. While speaking about the special features of 3G, Kuldeep Goyal, CMD, BSNL, said there will be seamless offering of VAS like video on-demand, movie on-demand, home surveillance through high speed internet connection up to 7.2 mbps. Goyal said 3G services customers would have three monthly subscription options of Rs 350, Rs 650 and Rs 1,350. Customers would also get the 3G services through a bundle offer. He expressed hope that of the five million subscriber base for BSNL, 5% would migrate to 3G service.