Touted as the next generation in mobile telephony, 3G services will offer Internet on the move at speeds up to 3.6 Mbps, video calling, mobile TV and a host of applications.
A short demo showcased the potential of 3G telephony –a YouTube video of vocalist Sudha Raghunathan in concert playing out without buffering hassles, live television feeds from an English channel and a remote video monitoring feature where video footage from a camera plugged to a broadband facility in south Korea streamed effortlessly on a 3G-supported mobile handset.
“In about two months, we expect to add another 250 Node B stations to the existing network of about 300 units to provide seamless 3G connectivity across Chennai and adjoining districts,” A. Subramanian, Chief General Manager, Chennai Telephones told a press conference.
Local voice calls and video calls are pegged at 30 paise per minute (in place of 90 paise and Rs.1.50 respectively) and STD video calls at 50 paise per minute. Data usage costs 1 paise or less per 10 kb.
With its one-year introductory offer of tariffs lower than 2G call charges, Chennai Telephones hopes to net 1.5 lakh users over the next couple of months.
D. Varadarajan, CGM, BSNL Tamil Nadu Circle, said 3G services would be launched in 38 cities over the next two months. It would be initially launched in Coimbatore and to begin with the Chennai-Coimbatore rail route would be provided seamless 3G connectivity, he said.
P. R. Ananthan, CGM, Southern Telecom Projects, said the features now available on 3G were just the beginning as the range of applications would increase in future.
Liu Zhan, vice-president, Huawei (India), the Chinese vendor of 3G equipment, said the BSNL network was being established with the latest equipment.
BSNL officials said the Mobile TV application offered under a tie-up with a content provider at present showcased 24 channels. The bouquet of channels would be increased in accordance with user demand.
Chennai Telephones has also tweaked its 3G infrastructure to allow 2G users who migrate to a 3G connection to retain the existing number. No migration charges apply. However, there are no plans at present to bundle 3G handsets in the introductory offer, officials said.
3G data cards that offer high-speed Internet access for computer users on the move were also launched.
The first 3G SIM cards were presented to Jawahar Vadivelu, vice-president, South Indian Chamber of Commerce and K. P. Venkatesan, proprietor, Adyar Ananda Bhavan.
