Jammu, Apr 6: The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) Wednesday announced that it will formally launch 3G services in J&K by June end.
 Talking to the reporters here, Chief General Manager J&K Circle BSNL, R K Koul said the service equipment including the video monitoring apparatus has been procured and installed. “We hope to launch the much awaited service in J&K within the current quarter of the year.”
 Earlier, the company had launched 3G services on test (trial) basis in Jammu city. Koul said the BSNL has planned to install 100 BTS (Base Tranceiver Stations) along Line of Control (LoC) and border.
 He said, “17 out of 100 BTS are already functional and the remaining towers are being installed as installation process requires clearance from army.”
 Koul said the highway from Lakhanpur to Srinagar has been provided with effective connectivity by installing adequate number of towers en route. “We are also planning to cover Mughal road.”
 About the Mobile Number Portability (MNP), the CGM disclosed that only 110 customers ‘ported out’ while 76 ‘ported in’ till yesterday in J&K.
 Over the new plans, Koul presented exhaustive information over the tariff plan of the BSNL which, he said, was “lowest and most transparent” without any hidden costs in it.
 The CGM, however, admitted on BSNL facing a “tough competition” from other private telecom providers.
 “BSNL being a public sector unit, has highest regard for government rules and regulations and followed the re-verification process of pre-paid mobile customers in letter and spirit,” he said.
 The CGM said the BSNL has planned to provide about 3.5 new GSM Mobile connections, 20,000 landlines, 13,300 WLLs and 25,000 Broadband connections in future.
 Later, displaying the lower tariff rates of BSNL , the CGM said that the tariff have been reduced considerably across the board in all types of services.
 “ The focus of our future plan is not only o improve the services in urban and rural areas for landline, broadband, mobile, WLL further, but also to improve the services in remote areas substantially so that the customers across the state enjoy the BSNL services almost at the same level,” said Koul.
 He also disclosed that the Post Paid customers would now get ‘Add-on’ plan after retaining their original connections for three months.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 6 Apr 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 6 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 7 Apr 2011 00:00:00 IST