High tariff ‘jams’ BSNL Wi-Fi net

BY V L Srinivasan Published on June 21, 2006 Hyderabad: THE much-hyped Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in the twin cities, by which high speed Internet access was provided at public places, could not take off in view of the high tariff. BSNL planned to provide Wi-Fi services at 21 locations in the twin cities and three places in Visakhapatnam, including star hotels, convention centres, shopping malls, airports and other public places during 2006-07. But it launched the service only at four places – domestic and international terminals of the Hyderabad airport, offices of the Chief General Manager of AP Telecom and the Principal General Manager of Hyderabad Telephones. BSNL, which incurred an expenditure of Rs 50 lakh for launching the service, is offering the same free of cost at these four places. The other ‘hot spots’ identified for introducing Wi-Fi services include Secretariat, HiTec City and convention centres of major star hotels. ‘‘There are different packages and the tariff is ranging between Rs 2 and 3 per minute. The customer would rather prefer to sit in a cyber cafe which charges between Rs 10 and Rs 15 per hour,’’ an official said. BSNL even planned to sell Wi-Fi cards of different denominations but held the move back in view of the high cost. Instead, the officials are looking at alternatives to make it viable. ‘‘We are exploring the possibility of giving it to one or two universities through broadband network and make it more affordable,’’ the official said. The service was introduced for the first time by a star hotel at Ameerpet, which purchased the equipment from the vendor directly. It has been offering the service free of cost for the last one and a half years, sources said. At present, the service is available at 300 locations in the entire country but it is mostly offered free of cost.