Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) may have missed the 4G telecom revolution, but will not miss the 5G bus with the government-owned firm having tied up with top telecom firms around the world to be ready for the launch of the next generation technology, asserted Chief General Manager, New Generation Network, Anil Jain on Monday.
“We are with the rest of the world in anticipating the launch of 5G technology and we have partnered with international operators like Nokia, NTT-ATT, Aries, JT and others for testing. While the target is June 2020, we expect the technology to be available by June 2019,” he said.
Mr. Jain was in the city to announce the latest landline, broadband and internet telephony plans and said BSNL wants to take a lead in 5G roll-out plan and is confident of being among the first to launch the services with TS, AP and Hyderabad getting priority.
The agency is also ready to roll out 4G services throughout the country once spectrum is allotted by the Government of India as the equipment is ready. “The telecom secretary has given a positive response, the Telecom Minister has given a commitment in Parliament and the Prime Minister too is very keen,” he said.
App launch
The CGM announced BSNL will be launching ‘Wings’ mobile app from August 1, following the announcement of internet telephony last month. Any audio-video calls can be made from this app and it does not require a cable or SIM card, can access landline address book and works in any Wi-Fi environment.
“A 10 digit number will be issued and there is facility to make conference calls,” he explained. It comes with a initial registration fee of ₹1,099 for a year with all incoming/ outgoing calls free. Wings can be accessed at any customer service centres or log on to bsnl.co.in.
Mr. Jain also detailed other new broadband plans with unlimited voice calls, data available from 1.5 GB to 20 GB a day, net speeds touching upto 20 mpbs with charges ranging between ₹99 to ₹491 a month; for high speed connections starting from 50 mpbs to 100 mpbs and upto 750 GB data useful for businesses, the fees range from ₹399-1,077 a month.
“Depending on the market response, we will offer the same plans to existing customers,” he added. CGM TS V. Sunder was also present.