BSNL and MTNL Broadband @ Rs. 500 from Jan 15

[~Romil]

Originally Posted by PTI

Public sector telecom giants BSNL and MTNL will launch their broadband services throughout the country on January 15, 2005 at Rs 500 per month.

While Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd will launch the services in Delhi and Mumbai, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd will do it in Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad on the same day.

Announcing this while addressing the first meeting of the members of the consultative committee attached to his ministry in New Delhi on Friday, Minister of Communications & Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran said the department is targeting around 10 million broadband service users by the year 2007.

It will be another success like the mobile telephone services revolution in the country, he said. Maran was speaking on the recently announced New Broadband Policy, which was the main item on the agenda for the meeting.

Though the broadband connection at 256 Kbps costs Rs 3,000 in the market, the PSUs have agreed to provide the same services at Rs 500 a month.

While VSAT could be used as small hubs, the government is also allowing DTH operators to operate broadband Internet and uplink after fulfilling necessary licensing conditions. He further stated that the government has relaxed the conditions for outdoor use of frequencies to promote Wi-MAX and Wi-Fi.

Elaborating on the features of the New Broadband Policy, Maran said the policy has been finalised after taking into consideration all relevant aspects, including the recommendations of TRAI on accelerating growth of broadband and Internet.

Maran assured the members that the department will also closely monitor and facilitate the spread of broadband and will take corrective measures as and when required.

Since the government is committed to promoting advanced technologies and is not favouring any particular technology the service providers are free to opt for the technology of their choice, he said.

The government has decided to encourage and make small operators of Cable TV to depend on the big players, such as BSNL, MTNL or any other private players, and they can also make use of broadband for their customers.

The government has also announced recently State Wide Area Network (SWAN) policy, National Internet Exchange (NIXI) and (In) domain policy, he said.

Speaking about the digital divide, the minister said that while tele-density in urban areas is 25 per cent it is only between 1.2 and 1.5 per cent in the rural areas.

The members appreciated the steps taken by the ministry in the area of broadband and stated that the new policy provided the flexibility and opportunities for further growth in telecom sector.

Rediff.com

BSNL Forms: http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/dataoneform.php

I'm game for this! What say guys?

[zookeeper]

The question we all want to ask: Will there be a download limit?

The question we all want to ask: Will there be a download limit?

and thats a million dollar question

[Switch]

One of my friends has a 512 KBps connection and he pays Rs 800 per month for a 500 Mb download limit. The speeds are constant and amazing but bandwidth limit is just too low. BTW its an ADSL connection.

[digen]

Although it says its gonna be launched on the 15th in the major sities,I think I'll have to wait another month or so before it lands here in my city.
Btw download limits totally suck.I'm better of paying a little more with a lesser connection.

[soulweaver]

Yeah... I prefer paying a lil more with a lil slower connection too..

All we can do right now is, keep our finger crossed and hope for the best. And i was wondering if the copperwires can handle 256/512 Kbps??

@those using cable net
some food for thought...
firstly it'll surely be capped and lets assume it will be atlest 1 GB...
and thats enuf for those who doesn't download anything illegal

and don u think, the current cable providers will either reduce their
current prices or increase the speeds or do whatever to stay in competition...
i'm in no hurry..i'll wait for the best deal till mid 2005
and believe me local cable's better than bsnl coz there's no limitations...
whichever way u look at it...atleast in my case..

[zewarrior]

Originally Posted by soulweaver

Yeah... I prefer paying a lil more with a lil slower connection too..

All we can do right now is, keep our finger crossed and hope for the best. And i was wondering if the copperwires can handle 256/512 Kbps??

Yes...through DSL technology. DSLAM at your local MTNL exchange and a DSL modem (CPE) at your end can handle speeds upto 2 mbps (depends on distances).

[delhiboy1000]

did any1 get the MTNL questionnaire abt whether u wud like a BB service etc..?
I filled & sent it the next day!it had a column abt the kinda service u wud lik to get- hourly/datalimit or Unlimited? naturally i ticked on UNLIMITED!!
think they will hav 256Kbps for 500/-p.m but WITH d/l limit... & will offer UNLIMITED at higher rates... BUT I REALLY HOPE IT COMES SOON!!!damn these d/l limits!!

[zookeeper]

Originally Posted by KingKrool

irstly it'll surely be capped and lets assume it will be atlest 1 GB...
and thats enuf for those who doesn't download anything illegal

Actually, it will not be enough for those of us (including me) who download Linux distros, or use stuff like apt (almost everyday). And many of us also download game demos. And if you use the net a lot for a lot of purposes or you use it for work, you can easily exceed 1gb.

[params7]

If its capped at even 5gb/month, i'm not going for it. I download+upload well over 15 GB /month only on my 128 kbps connection, 512 kbps should triple my monthly transfer. . So, i'll just wait for those unlimited plans to hit India

[Fountainhead]

My presumption is that, there'll b a D/L limit of say 1-5GB for the Rs 500/- plan and Unlimited D/L for, say 1000/-

I'd jump at that

lol@zookeeper
that post you quoted was Originally Posted by QuickFire and not KingKrool

and btw, how many distros do u usually dload every month??/

[akhilesh.c]

Originally Posted by Switch

One of my friends has a 512 KBps connection and he pays Rs 800 per month for a 500 Mb download limit. The speeds are constant and amazing but bandwidth limit is just too low. BTW its an ADSL connection.

then its of no use having this high-speed connection, the more the speed the more you browse or download
a limit of 500 mb is way to less

[IceFusion]

well lets waut and see wht they dish out...
Any 1 got any update from reliance abt dload limits...