Date:02/10/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/02/stories/2005100202090300.htm

Karnataka - Bijapur

BSNL announces expansion plan for Bijapur Telecom District

Staff Correspondent

Annual demand for cellphone connections growing at 120 per cent

Plan to raise CDMA coverage to 95 per cent of the total area
More GSM towers to be erected soon
GPRS technology to be used for data transmission

Rs. 100 monthly rental scheme for government employees

BIJAPUR: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has formulated a major expansion programme for Bijapur Telecom District comprising the revenue districts of Bijapur and Bagalkot, to maintain its dominance in basic telephony, mobile and Internet services.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Bijapur Telecom District General Manager M.B. Ravichandran said 23,940 pre-paid mobile phone connections and 3,990 post-paid subscriptions have been issued in the district, and the annual demand is increasing at the rate of 120 per cent.

Hence, the department is executing several works to cater to the demands of consumers. The installation of 33 GSM towers is under way, and the task will be completed by the end of November, he added. Apart from this, an additional 31 towers will be erected by April 2006 to increase the number of cellphone connections in the telecom district to 1.6 lakh.

Referring to complaints of poor service, he said two towers — one at Ram Mandir Road and another at Basavanagar — will be commissioned on October 15. Besides, five more towers will be installed in the next phase, he added.

Access to GPRS technology will be provided in the district to strengthen data transmission, he said. The installation of necessary equipment is under way and the service will be launched by the end of this month. With this, multimedia files can be downloaded/uploaded on BSNL mobile phones.

The technology will also help provide other value added services on a par with private operators, he added.

Noting that the future of basic telephony lies in fixed wireless telephony, he said all exchanges will be code division multiple access (CDMA) enabled by June 2006. With this, 95 per cent of the geographical area of Bijapur and Bagalkot districts will come under the CDMA network, he said. Already, Bijapur city has the facility and installation of CDMA equipment is underway in Bagalkot, Jamkhandi, Badami, Muddebihal, Hungund, Babaleshwar and Devarhipparagi stations.

On DataOne, the broadband Internet service, he said that so far, 69 connections have been issued in Bijapur city, and the service will be extended to Jalanagar exchange by the end of this month. The service will be launched in Bagalkot town next month, and it will be extended to the remaining towns in a phased manner.

He said BSNL will launch NetOne, a caller line identification-based Internet service, in Bijapur next week. Though Internet is accessed through a telephone line under the service, it is different from the dial-up Internet service, he added.

To a query, he said that though there has been some drop in the demand for landlines in urban centres, it has grown in rural areas. As many as 96,550 landline and 4,727 wireless phone connections are working in the telecom district, he said. There has been no decrease in the annual income, which was Rs. 56 crores last year, he added.

Mr. Ravichandran said 400 people have applied for pre-paid mobile phone connections under the Rs. 551 advance booking plan. They will be given SIM cards from Monday.

Mr. Ravichandran announced a special post-paid mobile phone scheme for government and public sector unit employees under which a monthly rental of Rs. 100 will be charged. Deputy General Manager Shravan Kumar was present.