BSNL's broadband Data One takes off in March

Major centres to be covered by April

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has plans to launch high-speed Internet services better known as broadband services (BBS) across Gujarat under the brand name 'Data One' in the first week of March. Earlier, the Gujarat launch was slated for February.

A K Bhandari, chief general manager, BSNL Gujarat, denied any delay in broadband launch. He further said that BSNL had launched broadband in few other states in February, but in Gujarat the launch will come only in March.

The broadband services will be provided on existing copper infrastructure, and initially, BSNL is focusing on Ahmedabad city, and by April, it will provide full-fledged broadband connections across the state including Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot.

B K Karecha, general manager of Gujarat telecom circle, said that the response from the subscribers in Ahmedabad has been so overwhelming that the booking had crossed the capacity even before the formal launch of the service.

"The demand of broadband service is on the rise and we have already got 3,412 online registration till January 25," Karecha added.

"Chennai-based Hindustan Teleprinter Ltd (HTL) and UTstar were given the contract for supplying equipments and other machinery," said B S Vihola, AGM, of Gujarat telecom circle.

According to data available, the government has sanctioned Rs 4.5 crore for broadband Internet services for Ahmedabad alone. BSNL plans to offer cheap Internet service by offering a low monthly charge of Rs 500 under its home plan. It expects to provide this facility to 12,000 subscribers, both home and commercial users, before the end of the current financial year.

Explaining the advantages of the `Data One', Karecha said the service was based on the latest asymmetric digital subscriber line 2+ (ADSL 2+) technology and the subscribers have the advantage of using telephone and Internet simultaneously.

The Internet would always be on and there would be no need for a dialup. The billing for the Internet service would be included in the normal phone billing. BSNL would also provide other services such as video conferencing, video-on-demand etc in phases.

"There are four monthly slabs under the Home Plan ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 3,300 and the bandwidth available would range from 256 Kbps to 1Mbps. The download/ upload limit under Home Plan would be 1GB to 10 GB and free e-mail ID facility also would be available. Under the Business Plan, the monthly charges would be in the range of Rs 1,200 to Rs 9,000 and the bandwidth available would range from 256 Kbps to 2 Mbps. The download/ upload limit would be in the 4 GB-40 GB range," Karecha said.

Answering a question, he said for a monthly charge of Rs 500, a subscriber could access the Internet for about 68 hours. As an incentive to customers under both Home Plan and Business Plan, additional usage charges beyond the free download/ upload limits would be waived up to June 30 if they joined the service prior to March 31.

Broadband is the common term for a high bandwidth Internet connection - one that can transmit or download information up to 40 times as fast as a standard telephone and modem.

Broadband services can be delivered in different ways - over an ordinary telephone line or private network, via a cable connection or across mobile and wireless networks.