All the 2.5 lakh panchayats in the country will have Internet connection by 2013. This will be achieved through a mix of optic fibre, wireless and WiMax technologies, said Kuldeep Goyal, Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL here on Tuesday. “We will be focussing especially on implementing WiMax systems that can reach speeds of up to 7 Mbps in rural areas.
As the subscriber base is going to be low, area wide networks are a better option in such zones,” he said.
He was speaking at the launch of BSNL Live service, a Wireless Application Portal (WAP), for all its 3G customers in the southern region.
The portal will act as a service delivery platform through which 3G customers can easily access content. It will offer a host of services such as on-demand live television, streaming movies, music and wallpaper downloads and interactive games.
“The live portal will offer customers the convenience of use of 3G services and will thereby help in full utilisation of the increased network speed,” said Mr. Goyal. “The portal will initially offer entertainment and information services, but will be expanded to include applications that focus on delivering educational, health and mobile commerce solutions.”
Alluding to the changing trends in the telecom sector, he said revenue from voice services was getting flat and operators were going to increasingly rely on data revenue. “When the iPhone was launched in the U.S.A., revenue from data services increased exponentially. BSNL currently earns 20 per cent of its revenue from the Value Added Services (VAS) segment and we are looking at expansion through a new range of new services,” he said.
To download the settings to activate BSNL Live portal, 3G subscribers will have to send SMS ‘Mobile Make space Model' to 58355.
