The Hindu Business Line : Direct 24-hour Net from BSNL

IN an effort to retain its market share in the face of growing competition from private operators, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) proposes to offer direct Internet access services (DIAS), with 24-hour connectivity to its subscribers, at nominal fixed rental charges.

According to official sources, the pilot project being launched in all the telecom circles across the country would, for a start, provide this service to 120 subscribers in each city. For a fixed monthly rental of Rs 1,800, BSNL will offer these subscribers Internet connectivity at leased line speeds on the same copper pair that is being used for their direct exchange lines (DEL). While the Internet bandwidth would be 120 Kbps per connection, if the consumer uses the telephone, then it would come down to 64 Kbps, they said.

The sources noted that apart from the fixed monthly rental, which is being pegged at "affordable levels," the subscriber would have to pay a security deposit (refundable and non-interest-bearing) of Rs 3,000 for the facility. That apart, a non-refundable registration charge of Rs 2,000 for each connection would also be charged from the subscribers. It is expected that these provisional tariffs that have been fixed would attract subscribers.

They noted that this project is an attempt to rope in new subscribers even while retaining the existing customers; especially since the subscribers who want to avail themselves of the DIAS facility will necessarily have to be its basic line subscriber.

In the case of disconnection of the telephone line, this DIAS connection is also to be surrendered. In case of disconnection of telephone for non-payment, etc, the DIAS facility would also be disconnected, they said.

Meanwhile, they pointed out, the company has also decided to focus on retaining its corporate customers across the country, which account for over 75 per cent of its total revenues.

"Since the corporates contribute more than 75 per cent of the revenues and comprise 20 per cent of the customer base, this implies that an average corporate customer pays four times the average revenues per DEL. So BSNL has now decided to identify these customers, and ensure faster and friendlier response for them," they said.

The strategy for this includes separate fault booking numbers for corporates, fault monitoring at the level of Area managers, separate meeting hours, separate counters at commercial centres and personalised services.

Efforts are also being made to improve the over-all image amongst corporates by aggressive advertising, promotional schemes such as `frequent usage points' on the lines of frequent flier schemes, and minimising their downtime. The field units have also been asked to focus on corporate revenues and monitor financial parameters to gauge the exact impact of competition on corporate customers, the sources said.

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