BSNL Launches FTTH Service in Bihar

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) launched its Fibre To The Home or FTTH service in Patna, Bihar yesterday as reported. This will allow consumers with high-end demands such as HD TV, 3D TV, VoD, IPTV, etc, the integrated service of Internet, phone line and IPTV under one connection. High quality content will be available through this connection at speeds up to 100Mbps, which is not possible through conventional copper cables.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief General Manager, Vijoy Kumar said, “On the eve of Bihar Divas celebrations, BSNL also wants to contribute in the state’s development and hence we are dedicating a world-class FTTH service to the state to strengthen the information technology sector. The service will start from Patna and fibre optical cable has already been laid down on important locations.”

He added, “The new service would open door for the business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, which has a nationwide turnover of Rs. 25,000 crore to which the state has not been able to reap the benefits of the growth of the sector till now.” He further stated that with this infrastructure addition, can hope of getting investment in BPO and IT-enabled sectors creating huge employment opportunities.

BSNL has got limited data as well as unlimited data plans for FTTH and both are quite expensive. The limited data plan includes 2 Mbps bandwidth with 8 GB data transfer limit at Rs.1,500 per month, 4 Mbps bandwidth with 30 GB data transfer limit at Rs.2,999 per month and 16 Mbps bandwidth with 100 GB data transfer limit at Rs.6,999 per month. Unlimited data plan comes in 1 Mbps for Rs.2,999 per month, 2 Mbps for Rs.3,999 per month, 8 Mbps for Rs.11,999 per month, 10 Mbps for Rs.13,999 per month, 20 Mbps for Rs.25,999 per month, 50 Mbps at Rs.49,999 per month and 100 Mbps at Rs.83,999. Activation charges of Rs.1,500, refundable security deposit of Rs.2,000 and ONT charges per month of Rs.100 are extra. ONT charges have been waived till March 31, 2011. Activation charges are reduced to half if the customer makes advanced payment of 6 months, or completely waived off if annual payment is made.