Bangalore: With leisure travel trends becoming dynamic, RCI India, a timeshare vacation exchange company, has introduced two new products that fit the bill of the modern-day traveller looking for stopover locations and cruises.

RCI India has introduced rentals, both for domestic and international destinations, which the RCI member can make use of before or after his or her timeshare vacation week. According to Radhika Shastry, General Manager, RCI India, the rental scheme is simple. A member has to indicate the destination and RCI India makes the booking in any of the 20,000 hotels around the world with which it has a tie-up. The rentals are competitive as RCI India gets them at "wholesale tariffs." The hotels range from two star to five star.

Ms. Shastry says the demand for rentals exists because many of the resorts are away from the city and the member would like to spend some time in the cities. Requests are on the rise for locations in Orlando, Singapore, Switzerland, London and Hong Kong.

Right now, RCI India has a scheme wherein a member taking an international exchange holiday to Bali can go via Singapore (for Rs. 1,450 a night per person), Kuala Lumpur (Rs. 1,250) and Bangkok (Rs. 650). "It is a negotiated deal for RCI," she says.

The other product, which RCI India has introduced, is cruises, starting with Royal Caribbean cruises.

RCI India has nearly 60,000 members with 18 per cent growth year on year.

The number of resorts affiliated to RCI in India has gone up from 62 to 67.

Web check-in facility

Low-cost carrier Air Deccan will shortly offer online check-in to its passengers in a bid to simplify air travel, maximise comfort and convenience and cut costs.

Passengers will be able to go to the airline's website and check in for their flights. They can choose their seat and print their boarding pass online.

Apart from optimising assets and empowering passengers, Web check-in also means cost savings for the airline, sources said. The Web check-in facility will be available to passengers holding a confirmed and valid e-ticket. A similar chec-in facility has already been introduced by Jet Airways.

BSNL broadband

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) is significantly ramping up its broadband capacity in Bangalore to meet the rising demand for high-speed Internet connections from its landline subscribers.

The company is currently evaluating a national tender for the purchase of 60 lakh lines for providing broadband connections across the country. According to plans, BSNL will purchase 28 lakh lines from successful bidders in the first phase. Out of this, 10 per cent or 2.8 lakh lines will be given to Bangalore. BSNL officials said that 16 companies have bid for the deal, which is estimated to cost Rs. 500 crore to Rs. 600 crore, and the tender evaluation is expected to be completed by the end of July.

Given the huge demand for broadband connections from its landline customers, BSNL is expected to face capacity constraints by the end of June.

Last year, BSNL had purchased 10 lakh lines from Huawei Technologies and UTI Starcom. Out of this, a shade more than 10 per cent (1.05 lakh lines) was allotted to Bangalore.

So far, the company has provided broadband connections to about 77,000 landline customers in Bangalore. "Every day, we are servicing new connections at the rate of 300-350 subscribers. At this rate, our installed capacity of 1.05 lakh lines will be fully exhausted by June end," a senior BSNL official said, adding that one out of every ten BSNL landline customers in Bangalore now have a broadband connection.

With the Ministry of Communications incorporating "indigenisation" as one of the key tender conditions, the successful bidders will have to start making the main components in India within six months of signing the contract, the official said.

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