BSNL unveils plans to launch cell services

(Courtsey :-The Hindu dtd 03/09/2002)

NEW DELHI SEPT. 2. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), the country's dominant operator of basic services, today unveiled plans to launch cellular services in over 1,000 towns and cities by next April.

The roll-out plan, announced at a function largely aimed at commemorating Pramod Mahajan's one-year tenure as Communications Minister, envisages "Cell-One'' cellular services in all State capitals by October 2 followed by connectivity to 850 more towns by Christmas and the remaining 150 towns by April 2003.

"I presume by April next there will not be a single district headquarter where Cell-One will not be available whether there is a business case or not. Perhaps that is the definition of the public sector — it does not run where the money is but where there is need. Although private companies have been running cellular services for the last six years, none can claim that it is present everywhere. This is a phenomenal plan that BSNL has in mind,'' said Mr. Mahajan.

The poor man's mobile, based on wireless in local loop (WiLL) technology, would also be rolled-out in all the 2,647 telecom revenue districts by next September, he added.

While Mr. Mahajan was extolling the virtues of choosing "Cell-One'' as the brand, sources said the favoured name till a few days ago was B-Mobile. Because of the change in brand name, huge amount of publicity literature, art pulls and other marketing material would have to be junked.

The Minister also scrapped a proposal to fly in top models — Gul Panag, Nafisa Joseph and Geetika Ganju — for the launch. BSNL bureaucrats packing the hall of a five-star hotel had to be content with presentations by a Doordarshan news reader and a rivetting laser show by a PR company which attained prominence during Mr. Mahajan's stint at Sanchar Bhavan.

The Minister also utilised the BSNL-sponsored show to announce the `mobile postmen scheme' and unveil the cheaper "Meghdoot'' post cards.

The mobile postmen scheme will commence from Christmas which is also the Prime Minister's birthday. Armed with a specially designed phone by the Korean company, LG, the postmen will turn into a `mobile' PCO. They will be allowed to retain part of the proceeds as incentive.

The "Meghdoot'' postcards will have advertisements and their price has been halved from 50 paise.

Dwelling on his year-long innings, the Minister derived satisfaction from the lower all-round call rates as a result of greater competition.

However, he felt national long distance call rates should settle at Rs. 5 per minute and international call rates should not be higher than Rs. 10. Mr. Mahajan felt conflict resolution between companies offering different types of services was consuming time.

"Casteism in the telecom industry is deep,'' he quipped