DHNS
 
Bangalore, Jan 1: Modern telephony will see new light in Bangalore with third generation (3G) telecom services offering audio and video data at high speed.

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will introduce the 3G telecom services in the City in April 1, according to BSNL officials.

Announcing this here on Wednesday, general manager (Mobile Services) of Karnataka Telecom Circle, R Mani, said: “3G services would be introduced in Chennai in March, followed by Bangalore in April.”

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, a City-based Chinese firm, will provide the service equipment, which is expected to arrive in March.

3G services were launched in Delhi a fortnight ago and is expected to be introduced in Mumbai soon. The service is already available in other countries, but has been slow picking up, as the cost is quite high.
According to a BSNL official, the profile of the initial users would be corporates and businesses who are high spenders and it would take some time for the service to be affordable enough to be used by individuals.
BSNL Bangalore has come out with a host of promotional offers for the mela to be held on January 2 and 3. As the number of landlines has been increasing, attractive packages are being offered for broadband and land-line customers once again.

Bangalore principal general manager Shubhendu Ghosh said, “Broadband connections are the driving factor for the increase in land-line connections.

“Sixty-eight per cent of all landline bookings come with bookings for broadband. So we are offering more packages for these people.”

Two of the most attractive offers come in the form of 20 per cent discount on broadband bills for government and PSU employees.

The other is a postpaid scheme exclusively for hearing and speech impaired people with 2000 free smses for Rs 50 per month.

For landlines, installation charges of Rs 250 will be waived off on new connections and a SIM with a value of Rs 249 will be given free. A six-month rebate on call charges worth Rs 180 per month will also be offered with broadband connections. A free games-on-demand services will also be offered free for 15 days.

Incidentally, BSNL is also offering a rebate on payments for those whose lines have been disconnected for non payment of bills. Rebates ranging from 10 per cent to 50 per cent are being offered on outstanding dues from one year to 10 years.

The telecom giant is also doing its bid on the energy saving front by attempting to shift from paper bills. It will be going for an e-billing system, where bills will be sent to the email id of the owner.