Basic telephony likely to fetch Rs 1,950 crore for BSNL in TN

The Tamil Nadu circle has, for the six months ended September 2003, reported a revenue of Rs 970 crore.

Income from the cellular services for the half-year ended September 2003, was Rs 90 crore. The revenue from this segment for the is expected to be Rs 150 crore.

The BSNL's Tamil Nadu circle covers the entire state excluding Greater Chennai town and Pondicherry excluding Mahe and Yenam, covering 2124 exchanges and has a capacity of 35.30 lakh lines. Out of this capacity at present only 28.49 lakh lines are being serviced.

BSNL officials further said that the average revenue from each fixed line connection had been showing a declining trend.

Over the last one year, average income from each fixed line connection came down to Rs 530 per line per annum from Rs 600 per line per annum.

Announcing new schemes for the festive season, BSNL officials said that an additional one lakh WLL (wireless in local loop) lines would be added in the Tamil Nadu circle by the end of the current fiscal.

K Mahadevan, the chief general manager, BSNL-TN circle, said, "the equipments for the additional locations would be sourced from multiple sources. Around 35,000 lines will come from CorDECT, 25,000 line from ZTE and 26,000 lines from MSC."

He further said that WLL services in the districts of Madurai, Dindigul, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Salem, Namakkal, Attur, Trichy, Karun and Pondicherry had been commissioned with a total capacity of 35,000 lines.

The limited mobility service is at present available only in Madurai, Salem, Attur and Namakkal.

As part of offerings for the festive season BSNL also said that it was waiving air-time charges on its pre-paid cellular service 'Excel'.

"We are offering re-charge coupons of Rs 300, Rs 500, Rs 1000 and Rs 2000 with talk time equal to the face value of the coupon. Only the service tax would be deducted," he said.

Mahadevan also said that during the festive season, up to October 28, subscribers whose connections were disconnected for non-payment of bills can now get it reconnected without paying the outstanding rental amount.

"Before the scheme was announced, subscribers had to pay not only the outstanding bills but also the rental during the period of disconnected service," he said.