BSNL mobiles can now be charged anywhere

Prepaid subscribers of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) can now avail easy-recharge options, anywhere in India.

This was introduced as a pilot project for prepaid users who bought a BSNL connection in West Bengal, North-East, Assam and Sikkim.

"If the project is successful, we would roll the facility out to all over India," promised Shakeel Ahmad, Union minister of state for communications and information technology.

Earlier, the user of a pre-paid BSNL connection in Kolkata could not use a BSNL recharge voucher bought in any other state.

This was because the BSNL marketing codes for recharge vouchers in different states were different.

BSNL introduced a toll free number, 1800-345-6060, which integrated all the state circles.

As a result, users could now call the number from a BSNL prepaid mobile phone and through a Docking system, trace the BSNL landline number.

The money would be charged on the BSNL landline bill while the BSNL mobile account would get recharged.

"So even if the user was outside Kolkata, he can recharge the mobile by calling the toll free number from anywhere in India," explained S K Bhaduri, general manager, CR & Cells, Calcutta Telephones.

However, both the prepaid connection and the landline have to be in the user's name.

To avail this facility, a user would only have to produce the last BSNL landline bill and sign a mandate form at any BSNL office.

The registration would be free of cost.

"This easy-recharge option for prepaid users was expected to be a major convenience for users facing a problem with their prepaid phone balance in the middle of the night when all shops are closed or while travelling," said Bhaduri.

BSNL also launched a host of value-added services in partnership with OnMobile Asia Pacific Pvt Ltd, the technology provider for the value-added services.

"The revenue, earned from the value-added services, would be shared between BSNL and OnMobile in the ratio of 60 to 40 where 40 per cent of the revenue would come to OnMobile," said Kowshik Komandur, marketing specialist, OnMobile Asia Pacific Pvt Ltd.

The services included news and cricket updates and songs and would come with an interactive, voice-recognition-system (IVR), where instead of dialling a number for news update, users could speak directly into the IVR and be able to play the service of choice.

The value-added services could be accessed by any BSNL user, by dialling 12555.

BSNL landline calls to this number would be charged at Rs 1.20 per 30 seconds and that from BSNL mobiles at Rs 5 per minute.

With a 30 lakh user base in West Bengal, BSNL expected the number of mobile connections to to go up and also retain its landline subscriber base.