Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the public sector telecom giant, will launch its Wi -Max services in Orissa this year.
The Wi Max service, which provides broadband wireless internet connection in rural areas, has already been launched in Rajasthan on a pilot basis.
“Since the ground work to launch this high-tech service has already started in the state, we expect it to be available here very soon” said a senior telecom officer here on Friday.
In Orissa, the sources said, as many as 645 Wi-Max BTS sites has been identified. In the first phase, Wi-Max BTS will be set up at 107 locations while other 538 locations will be covered in the second phases. These include 14 stations in Berhampur telecom district, covering Ganjam and Gajapati districts, said the general manager of the telecom district, BK Nayak.
The equipment had already been installed by the Indian Telephone Industry (ITI), Bangalore, in the sites proposed to be covered in the first phase. The testing will conducted soon before full launch of the service, he stated.
The main purpose of the Wi-Max service is to take the broadband internet service to the rural areas, where laying of cable to provide internet connection is either not possible or too expensive.
More From This Section
“As the BSNL in Orissa has committed to provide broadband service in each e-Seva Kendra, popularly known as the Common Service Centre (CSC), Wi-Max facility will be crucial to the success of these centres located in remote areas,” he said.
The government will set up 4,636 CSCs in the state, at least a centre in each gram panchayat. The rural people can access the internet in these centres and use the platform to pay their taxes and bills on-line among other things.
The facility is expected to increase the base of the broadband users in Orissa, particularly in rural areas. There were 93,485 broadband users in the state by the end of March 31 last.
The BSNL has targeted to provide another 80,300 new broadband connections in Orissa during current year. As the government is emphasising on expanding the internet connection in the rural areas, the proposed Wi-Max service will act as booster in this regard, he added. The broadband connection in Berhampur telecom district happens to be meagre in number. While there are 6528 boradband users in this telecom district, most of them are in urban areas. The telecom district aims to provide 6350 new connections during this year, Nayak said.