Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Mobile Network in Karnataka, under the 'Student Power Scheme,' has come out with a special offer to cater to the needs of student community and help the parents also be in touch with their children as and when required, a top official of BSNL said.
The scheme which can be availed by students from eighth standard onwards, is being offered at a lowest rental of Rs 99 per month, cheapest pulse rate of 15 seconds (55 paise per 15 seconds) and SMS charges Re 0.60 per message, B R Baliga, Principal General Manager, Bangalore Telecom district told reporters in Bangalore on Tuesday.
The scheme is valid for one year, after which the connection will be shifted to Plan 225. While no security deposit is needed if STD facility is not required, in case one wants to avail STD, a deposit of Rs 2,000 has to be paid, Farooq Ameen, BSNL general mobile services, Bangalore, said.
BSNL mobile network in Karnataka has an installed capacity of 340,000 connections and has almost 300,000 working connections.
We plan to release 20,000 pre-paid connections by Oct 15 and also 20,000 post-paid connections soon," he said.
"By March 2004, we propose to add another 140,000 connections," he said.
At present, there are 369 transmitting stations in Karnataka including 100 in Bangalore. "We plan to augment the number to 129 in Bangalore by Nov 15," Ameen said.
BSNL is also offering festival discount on leased line Internet ports, such as waiver of initial charges of Rs 10,000. The minimum hiring period will be six months and a 5 per cent discount on the normal charges of Internet leased line ports will be available for one year period charged on quarterly basis, Baliga said.
On the complaint front, customers in Bangalore Rural district can book their service complaints through Interactive Voice Response System by dialing '198.'
This is a 24 hours service, he said.
As part of customer care initiative, BSNL has provided a unique four digit helpline number '1253' to HelpAge India, an organisation working for the cause and care of the disadvantaged older people to improve their quality of life, he said.
BSNL, which at present has 9,75,698 landline connections, had been receiving almost '6,000 applications very month for new lines.'
However, since a number of connections have also been surrendered, the addition during this financial year (April 2002-Sep 2003) has been only around 509, he added.
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