The Hindu : Front Page : BSNL mobile base crosses one-crore mark

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 19, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

BSNL mobile base crosses one-crore mark

Special Correspondent

Subscriber base the highest in the southern zone

NEW DELHI: BSNL's mobile base has crossed the one-crore mark. The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is the country's third largest mobile company though it was the last to enter the cellular segment and does not operate in the two most lucrative markets of Delhi and Mumbai.

Out of the one crore connections, the BSNL subscriber base is the highest in the southern zone (37 lakhs), followed by the northern zone (26 lakhs), the western zone (21 lakhs) and the eastern zone (16 lakhs).

BSNL's footprint covers even the smallest of towns, ignored by private players till recently. In fact, its capacity has been exhausted in many places and CellOne pre-paid cards are either unavailable or being sold under the counter at many places in Karnataka, Kerala, Jharkhand and Bihar.

Only recently did the private companies start rolling out their networks in the hinterlands already covered by BSNL in two and a half years.

Wireless technology

BSNL is planning to introduce new technologies to make available broadband services through the wireless media. To a limited extent, data services on the mobile will the available on GPRS, which will get augmented further, by Edge technology in district headquarters as part of a 1.5-crore line roll-out.

BSNL has also sought an additional spectrum for introducing 3G services.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

News Update

Stories in this Section

Reliance announces family settlement

Second tiger reserve for Tamil Nadu

A Hindu wrote Pakistan's first national anthem

Europe struggles to find way forward after debacle

BSNL mobile base crosses one-crore mark

Pataudi surrenders in court

Bangladesh pulls off a stunner

Free Suu Kyi call

Long-haul flight

Vacation extended