BSNL, Dakshina Kannada telecom district, which covers Dakshina Kannada and Udupi revenue districts, plans to bring all the 349 gram panchayats in its jurisdiction under the National Optical Fibre Network project this year.
G.R. Ravi, general manager of the district, told presspersons here on Monday that fibre and connecting equipment to the extent of 470 km were being installed under the Union government’s project. Following the Digital India initiative of the government, the BSNL was all set to provide enough bandwidth to the panchayats, Mr. Ravi said. At the same time, Next Generation Network telephone exchanges were being set up at Baikampady, Surathkal, Urva, Kodikal, Manipal, Udupi, Ajjarkad (Udupi) and Brahmavar this year, he said. These exchanges would enhance the features on the landline network using IP switching.
Services on landline
As a result, services such as voice, video, data, multimedia, messaging, content delivery, mobility, broadcasting and multicasting would be available on landline networks.
The Mangaluru International Airport would get Wi-Fi coverage soon as part of providing the facility with multiple hot spots in select important locations, Mr. Ravi said.
At the same time, the company had launched schemes such as free night calling scheme for land lines from May 1 this year.
Free calls
Free calls could be made to any landline or mobile phone across the country between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. under this scheme, which is applicable to select landline/ broadband combo plans irrespective or urban or rural subscribers.
The free all India roaming facility for mobile phones announced by BSNL from June 15 is likely to be a big hit and increase the mobile subscriber-base of the company, Mr. Ravi said.
Deputy General Managers N. Vishweshwara Bhat and Divakara Rai were present.
