Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) would be in a position to improve its mobile coverage in the State to a great extent once the expected five MHz spectrum allocation is made and the new machinery becomes operational, likely by March 15, said chief general manager V. Sunder on Monday.
“Our machinery has arrived and we are ready to commence operations at Mahabubnagar and Khammam to begin with. Soon, seven other sites soon across the State will have improved coverage of 2G, 3G and 4G services will be rolled out,” he said at a press conference flanked by senior officials including Hyderabad telecom district principal general manager K. Ramchand.
During the same time, 125 wi-fi spots would be commissioned in rural areas in addition to the existing 119. The prices of modems have been reduced from existing ₹1,500 to ₹1,250 for new customers. Installation charges for new landline, broadband and other connections were waived off till July. Free calls on Sunday is being extended for three months, while free calls in the night have been revised between 10.30 p.m. and 6 a.m, said the CGM.
To keep pace with the competition and joining the tariff wars with the private telecom operators, BSNL has introduced five new pre-paid mobile packages. With unlimited STD and local calls to any network, the STV-99 plan has a validity of 26 days, while STV-319’s validity is for 90 days. The Plan 999 has unlimited data, with speed restricted to 40 kbps after 1 GB/day, 100 sms a day. For this 365 day plan, the freebies are valid for 181 days.
For the Plan 949 with same features valid for 365 days, freebies are valid for 157 days. Data STV-7 offers 1 GB data valid for one day, which has been introduced due to the customers’ demand, he said. Pre-paid international roaming was introduced to UAE and USA from February 10. The new international wi-fi, which costs ₹501, is valid for 30 days, he added.
