Lucknow to witness telecom warfare

The state capital is all set to witness telecom warfare with various private

parties eager to give the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) a neck-to-neck fight

here. But, all of them agree that the subscribers alone will decide the new

king. Before that, it is going to be a cutthroat competition among them, they

said.

While Usha and Essar, the two private companies providing mobile service in

the circle, East are bound to have a very tough competitor in the form of the

BSNL that is coming out with its own mobile services. The BSNL too will lose its

monopoly in the field of basic telephony and Wireless in Local Loop (WiLL)

services. Companies such as Reliance Infocom (RI) and Bharti Telecom are going

to begin their own basic/WiLL services, very soon.

RI, however, seems to be taking an edge over others in planning and strategy.

The company will mainly provide WiLL and basic telecom services. It is expected

to launch the WiLL in October. Recently, the company has given 'Ginie' as the

brand name to the WiLL and, according to sources, plans tariff as low as Rs 1.20

per three minutes call and Rs 200 rental.

The BSNL may any day announce launch of its much-awaited mobile services with

all-India roaming facility. However, the BSNL is cautiously watching the moves

of its competitors and has not yet disclosed its brand name, tariff and the

launch date. "These things will be decided by the BSNL headquarters in

Delhi," said SP Kalsi, the CGM Telecom Circle UP, East. Besides, the

department will release 10,000 more WiLL telephones in the state capital, by

September-October.

Another company, Bharti Telecom has also started its cable-laying work in the

city. The company, according to sources, has bagged license for beginning its

own mobile services in UP, East.

There is one more company-the Power Grid Corporation Ltd (PGCL) that has laid

around 30 kms of fiber cable in the state capital to provide lease and dedicated

telephone lines to basic telephone service operators and the bulk subscribers

such as media houses. Its services like hotline, Internet data transmission,

etc. will be based on extra-high voltage mass transmission facility, claimed

company's senior officer, AK Jain. The company has also proposed to the BSNL to

use its lines.

Jain said that while Lucknow-Delhi link would be established in a day or two,

the links between Lucknow and Mumbai would also be set up in a fortnight or so.

"The links between Chandigarh and Delhi already exist and we plan to

connect all the cities soon," he averred.

Cyber News Service