BSNL launches faster internet service

Through its enterprise business division (EBD),the telecom provider is carrying out the “door-to-door marketing’’ to sell the facility to people. Mahendra said the G-pon facility cannot be provided to less paying consumers and would be made available to the housing societies or areas where cluster of houses are located besides the business houses.

For getting the internet connectivity upto 2 Mbps,the annual fee that will be charged from people will be nearly Rs 40,000 while as for 1 Gbps speed the charges will come between Rs 40-50 lakh.

Mahendra said the BSNL can’t provide the facility to individual customers as the expenditure on laying the transmission line was much higher. “The transmission line needs to be carried upto the housing society or the office of business houses for which we are incurring heavy costs. We are already talking to some housing societies and business groups asking for availing the facility,” he said.

Prior to the launch of G-pon,BSNL conducted a demonstration at the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) trade towers and on a trial basis has installed the facility at the office of industry body free of cost. “Already one of the business groups has taken the facility,” said Mahendra.

BSNL officials said the G-pon uses optical fibre in providing the internet to people,which increases the speed significantly. The speed can go upto as high as 1 Gbps while as the normal consumption of speed ranges between 1 to 2 Mbps for individuals and between 2-100 Mbps for the business houses.

However,the G-pon facility provides not only the faster internet facility but the value-added services like internet protocol television (IPTV) and on demand games as well to people.

Deputy General Manager,broadband,BSNL,P K Saha,said the advantage with G-pon over the internet connectivity provided through copper cables was that the defect in the fibre cable can easily be rectified. He said the G-pon operates on a cloud unlike lease line in which the path of internet is fixed. “On the cloud on which the G-pon functions there is also a guaranteed connectivity,” Saha said.