BSNL-AP launches 'Choose your mobile number' scheme

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)’s AP telecom circle will be launching on Tuesday its ‘Choose your mobile number’ scheme, under which prospective customers would be able to choose any number, sans any extra cost, from a list of about 100,000 numbers that will be made available on its website – www.ap.bsnl.co.in.

“After selecting the number of his choice, the customer will receive a PIN number on his mobile. The selected number will be reserved for 48 hours and will no longer be visible for further selection,” Rajeev Agarwal, chief general manager of BSNL-AP circle, told mediapersons here.

Customers need to approach a customer service centre or a retailer with the PIN number, who will provide him with the same number. Customers can reserve a maximum of two numbers, and the list will be updated every day or even at a higher frequency, to ensure that additional numbers are added to make 100,000 numbers available every day with the customers to choose from.

BSNL-AP is also introducing a removable user identity module (RUIM)-based CDMA service in order to further load its available WLL network. These services are similar to those being sold by other CDMA operators under their mobile schemes.

Agarwal said BSNL had achieved tremendous success in mobile number portability (MNP) and over 200,000 customers had joined BSNL through MNP. “The circle has become the market leader in net addition of customers, selling more than double the number of connections of the second operator in rest consistently from the last couple of months,” he added.

Stating that BSNL-AP had seen good response from its Reconnection Mela held from July 28 to September 5, 2011, Agarwal said apart from collection of over Rs 7.48 crore, 68,972 reconnections were given in the landline segment. In addition, 13,572 new land line connections and 9,421 new broadband connections were sold during the mela, he said.