BSNL eyes 4,000 broadband connections

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is targeting 4,000 broadband connections in East Godavari district this fiscal. The company is spending Rs 1 crore on the infrastructure development including purchase of broadband equipment for extending the facility to customers in Rajahmundry and Kakinada.

"Broadband services are cost-effective and so to popularise them in the East Godavari district, we have launched a massive campaign. Besides, we are spending Rs 1 crore on infrastructure development," R M M Krishna, district BSNL general manager, said.

Talking about BSNL's 'Home plan', Krishna said, "There is a good response to the Home plan as customers with landline connection need to pay just Rs 500 for (modem) obtaining the broadband services. Customers paying a telephone bill of Rs 1,000 need not pay the initial deposit for the broadband services."

On the performance of CellOne in the district, Krishna said that 50 CellOne towers were being set up at different locations to expand the connectivity and extend qualitative services to the customers.

Nearly Rs 2 crore was being spent on installation of towers at Rajahmundry, Kakinada, Antharvedi, Annavaram, Draksharam and Ryali. Towers in the remote agency areas including Rampachodavaram, Kotananduru, Rajavomangi, Gokavaram and Yeleshwaram too were being installed. All the towers are likely to be commissioned in September 2005. In all, 34 towers in rural areas and 16 in urban areas were being installed.

At present, there are 60,000 CellOne connections in the district. After the commissioning of 50 more towers, an additional one lakh connections will be added keeping in view the huge demand for CellOne services. Currently, the main switching centre is located only at Hyderabad but soon Visakhapatnam too will have a Nortel switching centre which will help extend qualitative services to the customers, he said.

According to Krishna, cell PCOs will be launched this month in the district.