One thing is for sure. BSNL is planning to come in as a major triple play player in the next coming few months. They are looking forward to leverage this advantage big time.

The upgraded 2 Mbps speeds is a wow factor in India which till recently was unheard of concept. Perhaps for the first time ever, we can watch streaming videos without bothering about the buffer times. BSNL is keen and intent on declaring this year as the year of broadband; something that reflects from the CMD’s message online.

I quote verbatim: (emphasis mine)

Year 2007 is going to witness a Broadband revolution as we have declared 2007 as “YEAR OF BROADBAND”. We intend to invest Rs.2000 Crore to strengthen our Broadband Infrastructure. Today our Broadband service is available in about 600 cities / towns. We plan to extend Broadband coverage to more than 1000 Cities / Towns and 20000 Villages over the next two years. During the year 2007, Broadband coverage will be provided to all Secondary / Higher Secondary Schools and all Public Health Centers. Gram Panchayats will be brought under Broadband map progressively by 2008.

Our existing Broadband capacity of 1 Million ports is planned to be augmented by 5 million ports, out of which 1.8 million ports will be deployed in rural areas. We are in the process of launching Broadband access through Wi-Max technology in about 1000 Block Headquarters. Wi-Max is capable of offering Wireless Broadband Service in a radius of 20-25 Kilometers. You can look forward to launch of Triple Play Services and On-Line Gaming Services over Broadband during this year.

We have also decided to provide latest features on our fixed line phones and would gradually replace the existing telephone instruments of the customers with instruments having facilities like CLIP etc. (This is true indeed and the company has provided a new handset at my premises. It was definitely a pleasant surprise).

I thank all BSNL Customers for the faith reposed in our services. (This is contestable claim. Mr. CMD doesn’t realise that all these years we have had NO option). We re-affirm our commitment to empower our customers with world class state-of-the-art services (Really? If that is true, Mr CMD, remember the frustrated mails sent across to your office complaining about the local line man not being able to set right the fault in the cabling landing in my flat, which played havoc with my broadband access) at affordable rates and look forward to their continued patronage. (Thanks to the lethargy of Airtel/ Reliance/ HFCL Connect and other players looking at pan India presence, we would have to tolerate BSNL for the next coming few years).

Still, this demonstrates BSNL’s intent to rectify the issues with looking at long term money spinners in terms of value added services. We would hardly get to see the uniform roll out of the promised services; it would be a staggered soft launch. This is in trend with the other roll out of BSNL’s services. Finally, this reminds me of the pain and agony we all had to face while upgrading to the “unlimited” plans. 2 Mbps unlimited seems to be a far cry. One thing is for sure. If BSNL has an affordable package for triple play, then I am willing to migrate to the thingy.

Airtel, watch out. BSNL would sting you hard on your privates and Mr Mittal and his fancy promos may all go out for a toss. We’d wait and watch.  

This content is published under the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Related posts:

1. Year end blues The year is drawing to a close. Customarily, most of us tend to look back at what happened and have...
2. The year that was I hate to end on a pessimistic note. The year 2006 was in many ways a sad reflection on the...
3. BSNL Broadband-1st Anniversary Well, this seems to have passed notice of everyone. BSNL broadband is 1 year old now. Howsoever pathetic customer care...
4. BSNL Broadband- What’s going wrong? BSNL may finally be able to pat itself on it’s back. People are praising it-it’s got an average user rating...
5. Year 2006 forecast It’s difficult to forecast anything for the new year. Specially at the rate at which the technology is changing. In...
6. BSNL Broadband Hoopla There are hosts of complex interrelated issues that need to be enumerated for the launch of broadband services by BSNL.I...
7. Reliance Broadband: More delay Ho hum. We all know about it right? Well, it seems that Reliance is extending it’s launch date by another...
8. BSNL Broadband: Why it isnt revolutionary I have been missing out on real incisive comments on the forums elsewhere. I am posting across an excellent insight...
9. More on BSNL Its been a long hiatus; after the shift to a new job in a new place, things have finally settled...
10. Another mail to BSNL Broadband I got a reply from some of the BSNL’s staffer’s; most likely PA to the CMD. Here is the mail:...

Tags: Airtel, Broadband, Broadband access, BSNL, BSNL Broadband, India, Reliance, Value Added Services, Wireless, Wireless Broadband