3G services for BSNL customers soon

“At present,the equipment for the 3G services is installed on 12 out of 508 BTS towers in the city. More such equipment are expected to come after which we can rollout the 3G services commercially,” said Mahendra.

BSNL was awarded one block in 3G spectrum in all telecom circles in the country early this year. In August,it launched its pilot project in the city enabling 2 mbps data connectivity to its 2,000 post-paid customers. While the charges for the new services are not yet disclosed,it is understood that 3G services are expected to cost 30-40 per cent more than the cost of the existing GPRS services.

“As the service will be expensive,only 20 per cent of the total customers in the city is expected to avail the service,” said Mahendra.

He said that besides the installation of new equipment,the service quality tests on the existing equipment were also going.

3G is the third generation of mobile phone standards and technology,after 2G that enables network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving greater network capacity through improved spectral efficiency.