3G Auction Some After Talks

Long waited India’s 1st 3G spectrum auction is over! Starting on 9 April it took 34 days. Govt-owned BSNL and MTNL are already offering 3G services over country. Now private operators also get licenses to offer high speed 3G services.

Indian Government earned Rs 67,700 crore, double than they expected to get by selling 3G airwaves.Most important thing not a single operator did win pan-India 3G license, which may lead to network sharing over circles to circles.

But it is uncertain that dual technology operator Reliance and Tata will join such sharing or not.Airtel & Vodafone mostly come to as partner, and Idea may join them via their joint venture of tower sharing i.e. Indus Towers.

But even of this partnership between three operators can’t cover all circles with 3G connectivity – the trio will miss Orissa.Airtel’s wining of 3G license is quite unimpressive, they won license in

BSNL Offers Local and STD Video Calls Just At 30p

In a bid to promote 3G Mobile services, India’s National telecom backbone and Pan-India 3G mobile service operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) today announced the promotional reduction in Video Call charges for its Postpaid and Prepaid 3G subscribers in all telecom circles.

With the massive reduction in Video Call charges, Now BSNL 3G subscriber can enjoy the next generation Local and STD video calling just at 30 paisa per minute. The above promotional tariff will be available for 90 days with effect from 1st June, 2010.

BSNL is the only service providers to have 3G spectrum across all the telecom circles.Recently the state operator crosses One Million 3G GSM Mobile and Data service subscriber mark and offers it next generation 3G services in more than 434 cities across India.

BSNL Ties Up With Indian Railways to Promote 3G Services

In a bid to promote the 3G mobile and data services, India’s National telecom backbone and pan India 3G operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has partnered with the Indian Railways.

As part of the tie-up, the New Delhi-Chennai Rajdhani Express will boast BSNL 3G logos and advertisements as a promotional vehicle. The 1st Rajdhani train was flagged off by Mr. Kuldeep Goel, Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL from New Delhi. The six-month campaign is expected to cover 34 locations across 11 States in India.

With the unique marketing initiative, all coaches of the New Delhi-Chennai Rajdhani Express were covered with vinyl sheets carrying advertisements of BSNL 3G services.

BSNL 3G Mobile Service Now In Kerala

State-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) today launches 3G the third generation mobile services in the Kerala telecom circle.Presently BSNL 3G services will be available Kozhikode city, suburbs and Kalpetta and it will connect 21 towns covering all district headquarters of Kerala. With the BSNL 3G prepaid GSM mobile service users can enjoy Local Voice and Video calls at just 30 Paisa per Minute and All STD video calls will be chargeable at 50 paisa.

The 3G services allow telecom operators to offer high-speed Internet and video calls on mobile phones as well as mobile TV facility.

According to the BSNL Kerala Unit, the process of extending the services will get over by the end of this month.Currently BSNL commence the 2.55 lakh 3G lines in the Circle, including 37,758 lines in Kozhikode city and suburban areas and 1,469 lines in Kalpetta to accommodate the 3G subscribers. BSNL also erect new 100 3G base stations in Kozhikode SSA to provide the seamless 3.5G connectivity

BSNL is the only service provider to procure the license to operate 3G services in the Kerala region and the state-owned company feel this would see a shift of premium customers towards it. The operator has invested Rs.650 crore for the project in Kerala, apart from expanding the accessible 2.75 G network to wrap up more than 95% of BSNL mobile subscribers. The traffic congestion in existing 2G mobile services in the region would be removed by the launch of 3G mobile services and the up-gradation of 2G network.

BSNL 3G SPEED

3G is automatically activated when you activate the SIM using Rs 350 or higher activation voucher. To configure your phone for 3G Data Connection, just create a new connection with Access point “gprsnorth3g.bsnlmobile.in” or “bsnlnet” & leave all the other settings at default. Name it “BSNL 3G”. Then go to your phone’s “Network selection” menu & Select UMTS instead of GSM/Dual Mode.

If 3G isn’t available & if your phone is set in Dual mode then your SIM will automatically work in 2G mode. In that case the tariff will be same as 3G

The speed of BSNL 3G is HSDPA compatible & although I am not getting 3.6 mbps but the speed is still quite good at 512 kbps easily. Here is a screenshot which I was able to take of Symtorrent just before the speed throttled. The speed is 48 KBps or 384 kbps.

BSNL 3G USB HIGH SPEED DATA CARD

India’s National Telecom backbone Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) announced the of its 3G GSM mobile and High Speed Wireless Internet services (Data services) in Raipur city of Chhittisgarh telecom circle.

Speaking on the launch of BSNL 3G services in Raipur, Mr. Ram Yagya, Chief General Manager, BSNL Chhattisgarh circle said “The next generation 3G mobile and data service is now available to all BSNL postpaid and prepaid 2G subscribers in Raipur city.”

He also added that “BSNL will expands the 3G services in other parts of the state shortly. BSNL subscriber can enjoy local and STD Video call just at 30 paisa per minute with our 3G services. He also assure that the BSNL will do the best to provide uninterrupted 3G Mobile and data services.

BSNL 3G-Broadband

BSNL Broadband using 3G Network:

Users shall be able to access Web using High speed broadband connection. BSNL talks of 2 Mbps but we will be happy to receive at least 1 Mbps uninterrupted data transfer.

Users have the choice to connect using USB Stick Interface or PCMCIA Card which will be provided by BSNL. Available choices are Merlin X950D Express Card, Merlin XU870 Express Card, Option Globe Trotter Express 7.2, Option Globe Trotter Express HSUPA 3G data card and Sierra Wireless Air Card 880E.

Tariffs for BSNL Broadband 3G Data Plans:

Trial Pack – 50 MB Rs 60 and 100 MB will cost Rs 120 with 15 days Validity.

BSNL 3G Broadband Plans with Limited Usage:

The following plans have validity of 30 days. Additional download will be charged at Rs 2 / MB.

For Rs 250 you will get 300 MB Free Download, Rs 400 will fetch you 1 GB of Free Download, Rs 650 will get you 2 GB of Free Download while Rs 1,000 will get you 5 GB of Download. Service taxes are Extra.

BSNL 3G Broadband Plan with Unlimited Usage:

This will cost you Rs 3,000 / month with unlimited data transfer. Compare this to Airtel’s 1 Mbps DSL Unlimited data transfer plan available at Rs 2,222. BSNL is currently enjoying the monopoly and eventually when other operators enter the market, BSNL will be the first one to reduce the tariff as it has been pretty customer friendly.

Now if you are our reader in Chennai or other Metros where BSNL / MTNL 3G Data Plans are launched, we request you to check theBroadband Speed here and kindly notify us by means of a comment.