KANNUR: Over 60,000 new telephone connections, including 40,000 landline and 20,000 WLL connections, were provided in the Kannur Secondary Switching Area (SSA) that includes Kannur and Kasaragod district and Mahe.

General Manager of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) in the Kannur SSA said at a press conference here on Tuesday that new phone connections for the remaining 22,000 applicants in the waiting list would be sanctioned before March 31. From April onwards, new connections could be provided on demand.

In the mobile phone sector, 30,000 new pre-paid connections had been provided in the SSA. There was phone-on-demand situation in the SSA as far as pre-paid mobile connections were concerned, he said. As many as 36,000 new connections had been provided under the Plan-100 post-paid scheme started for Government and public sector employees, Mr. Mathew said. There was phenomenal growth in the number of mobile phones in the SSA, he said adding that the number of pre-paid connections had risen to 97,000 and post-paid to 52,000.

The General Manager said that in addition to the existing 117 mobile towers in the SSA, 100 new towers would be commissioned in this fiscal. In this month alone, 21 new towers would be commissioned in the SSA, he said. The SSA had total 22,559 Internet connections and 1,121 broadband connections, Mr. Mathew added.

Telephone connections disconnected over three months would be reconnected on request from the subscriber who would be exempted from payment of rent during the period of disconnection, he said.

Mr. Mathew said that new offers and tariff packages for basic phone and mobile users will further accelerate growth of the connectivity in the SSA. The telephone density in the SSA was 12.27 per cent.

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