The Hindu Business Line : Dakshina Kannada to have upgraded telecom services

Addressing a news conference here on Wednesday, the General Manager of DK Telecom District, Mr K.J. Chacko, said that during 2003-2004, BSNL plans to expand the switching capacity in the entire district by about 25,000 lines.

All exchanges in the Mangalore urban area are to provide telephones on demand and all taluk headquarters in the district will also provide telephones on demand.

The new services planned include a WLL system to be installed to provide telephone connections in `non-feasible' areas. Also, 10,000 CDMA-WLL lines are being installed in Mangalore with fixed/limited mobility. GSM-mobile services for an additional 25,000 lines are being planned during the year which shall also provide enhanced coverage along all national highways. Online registration for new telephones will also be introduced.

In addition, a new service has been introduced in all the exchanges in Mangalore and Udupi SDCA by which subscribers can come to know their meter reading by dialing 1679.

A `single window concept on computer-based LAN network' will also be commissioned by the end of this month.

Also, the entry of `multi-operators' in the field of basic services, according to Mr Chacko, has necessitated a change in phone numbers to adhere to BSNL's `national numbering plan'. As part of this exercise, in the first phase, the existing six-digit numbers in Mangalore SDCA (starting with 4 and 2) will be changed to seven digits prefixing level `2' in all the 35 exchanges in this area with effect from March 30.

As for BSNL's achievements in the DK Telecom district during 2002-2003, Mr Chacko said that about 29,000 new connections have been provided during the year. The equipped capacity in the district is 3.44 lakh with 2.78 lakh working connections. The telephone density in the district is 10.3 per hundred as against the national average of 3.1, Mr Chacko said.

Also, the exchange equipment capacity has been increased by 15,000 lines and all stations have been provided with optical fibre/digital microwave media. Eleven new exchanges have been commissioned in the district and a rural WLL system with a capacity of 500 lines has been commissioned at Konaje and Uppinangady near Mangalore.

As for GSM-mobile services, Mr Chacko said that CellOne mobile services have been provided in Mangalore city and `other important places' in the district, apart from covering all national highways. About 8,750 pre-paid Excell and about 3,500 post-paid CellOne connections have been provided so far - a total of 12,250 mobile connections, Mr Chacko added.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
BPL Mobile, Escotel, RPG, Spice Telecom forge alliance

Telecom row: Shourie calls for peace

Long distance tariffs of BSNL valid till March

Dakshina Kannada to have upgraded telecom services

Samsung unveils PC upgrade scheme

i-flex getting into systems integration

Patni Computers biding time for IPO

`IT sector growth healthy despite global slump'

PRS Permacel solution to counter fake menace