The Union Minister for Communication & Information Technology, Mr A. Raja (centre), flanked by the CMD of BSNL, Mr Kuldeep Goyal, and the DoT Secretary, Mr Siddhartha Behura, at the launch of BSNL 3G mobile services in Chennai on Sunday. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi, launched the service with an inaugural call to the Union Minister for Communication and IT, Mr A. Raja.
Chennai, Feb. 22 BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) launched 3G mobile services from Chennai on Sunday.
3G makes possible video streaming applications such as Live TV, movie downloads, high speed data download on mobile phones with 3G services enabled.
Callers can also see each other on their mobile phone screens, according to a press release from BSNL.
The new service will offer data speed of 2 Mbps against 144 Kbps available now over the GPRS and EDGE enabled mobile networks.
BSNL is the first mobile company to launch the service in Chennai. Chennai Telephones has installed 25 stations (Node-Bs) in the city for the initial launch and these would be expanded fast.BSNL plans to invest over Rs 2,700 crore to provide 3G service in important cities, commercially important towns and all the district headquarters.
The Communications Minister said BSNL plans to cover more than 700 cities with 3G services. The mobile network has been expanded making India emerge the second largest mobile telephone market after China.
Over 360 million mobile connections have been provided and this is expected to double by 2012. Teledensity has reached 34 per cent in January 2009 up from 12.74 per cent in 2006.
Tariff for 3G Mobile Service
India is now 3G ready but will you upgrade with the present state of things still experimental? BSNL has been decided to introduce 3-G mobile services with the following tariff plans. Everything looks good with only a few things still too primitive to take that chance. At present you cannot Migrate from 2G to 3G and there is no provision for video ISD calls at present. Still experimental but its good to see the cost within limits. Read more for full tariff info on BSNL 3G.
1. Initial SIM Charges for both postpaid and prepaid service:
| Particulars | Amount |
| Cost of SIM (with Serv Tax) | 300 Rs. |
| Talk Value in Rs. | NIL |
| Initial Validity in days | 7 |
| Migration from 2-G to 3-G | Not feasible at present |
| Applicable to | Voice & Data plan |
2.1 Voice Plans: Prepaid
Voice Prepaid: Activation Vouchers (for choosing a particular plan)
| Particulars | Super 350 | Super 650 | Super 1350 |
| Activation Voucher | 350 | 650 | 1350 |
| Talk value in Rs. | 270 | 530 | 1200 |
| Validity in Days | 30 | 45 | 90 |
| Call Charges in Rs./Min |
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| Local – On-net | 0.40 | 0.35 | 0.30 |
| Local – Off-net | 0.70 | 0.65 | 0.60 |
| Local-Video calls | 2.00 | 2.00 | 1.50 |
| STD – On-net | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| STD – Off-net | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| STD – Video calls | 3.00 | 2.50 | 2.00 |
| P2P SMS (Rs./SMS) |
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| SMS – Local | 0.50 | 0.25 | 0.10 |
| SMS – National | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| SMS- International | 5.00 | 5.00 | 5.00 |
| Data usage in Rs./MB | 3.00 | 2.50 | 2.00 |
2.2 Recharge Vouchers : (Inclusive of Service Tax) for subsequent recharges
| MRP of RCV in Rs. | 500 | 700 | 1100 | 1600 | 3000 |
| Talk Value in Rs. | 400 | 600 | 950 | 1450 | 2800 |
| Validity in days | 30 | 45 | 60 | 90 | 180 |
2.3 Special Value Vouchers (SVV) with 30 days validity (Inclusive of Service Tax)
| Particulars | Price in Rs. | Local (Rs./Min) | STD (Rs./Min) | Rs./SMS | |||
| On Net | Off Net | On Net | Off Net | Local | National | ||
| Late Night SVV (From 11PM to 7AM) | 39 | 0.10 | 0.40 | 0.50 | 1.00 | As per the Plan | |
| SMS SVV | 29 | As per the Plan | 0.10 | 0.50 | |||
| SVV – Local | 40 | 0.20 | 0.40 | As per the Plan | |||
| SVV – STD | 49 | As per the Plan | 0.50 | 0.75 | As per the Plan | ||
| SVV – STD + Local | 69 | 0.20 | 0.40 | 0.50 | 0.75 | As per the Plan | |
The above special tariff will be applicable in Home PLMN only. The Special Value Voucher (SVV) is applicable only to 3G plans.
3.1 Voice Plans: Postpaid #
| Particular | Full value 500 | Full value 800 | Full value 1000 | Unlimited 2500 |
| Fixed Monthly Charges in Rs. | 500 | 700 | 1000 | 2500 |
| Free local minutes (On-net) | 900 | 1200 | 1600 | 3500 |
| Free STD minutes (On-net) | NIL | NIL | NIL | 500 |
| Free Video Local calls in Min | 30 | 50 | 75 | 150 |
| Free Local SMS | 150 | 200 | 300 | 1000 |
| Free data worth Rs.* | 60 | 150 | 300 | 500 |
| Pulse (Sec) | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 |
| Call Charges in Rs./Min |
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| Local- On-net | 0.30 | 0.20 | 0.10 | 0.00 |
| Local – Off-net | 0.60 | 0.50 | 0.40 | 0.30 |
| Local - Video calls | 2.00 | 2.00 | 1.50 | 1.00 |
| STD – On-net | 1.00 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 |
| STD – Off-net | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 0.50 |
| STD - Video calls | 3.00 | 2.50 | 2.00 | 2.00 |
| P2P SMS (Rs./SMS) |
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| SMS – Local | 0.40 | 0.30 | 0.10 | 0.05 |
| SMS – National | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 0.40 |
| SMS - International | 5.00 | 5.00 | 5.00 | 5.00 |
| Data Rate (Rs/MB) | 3.00 | 2.50 | 2.00 | 2.00 |
# Service Tax as applicable extra * Free data do not include MMS.
3.2. Roaming Charges*: (Both for Postpaid and Prepaid)
| Particulars | Local | STD | ||
| On-net | Off-net | On-net | Off-net | |
| Voice – Outgoing (Rs/Min) | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.50 | 1.50 |
| Video Call – Outgoing (Rs/Min) | 2.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 4.00 |
| SMS- (Rs./SMS) | 0.50 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Voice Call – Incoming (Rs/Min) | 1.00 | |||
| Video call – Incoming (Rs/Min) | 2.00 | |||
| Data Charges Rs / MB | 3.00 | |||
*Shall be applicable uniformly to all voice as well as data plans.
4.1 3G Data Plans
Trial Pack :( Inclusive of Service Tax)
| Trial Pack - 50 MB | Rs 60 | 15 days Validity* |
| Trial Pack - 100 MB | Rs 120 | 15 days Validity* |
Data charges for trial pack customers after use of 50 / 100MB or 15 days expiry shall be as per his base plan. The trial pack shall not be allowed more than once, per customer. *This will increase the validity of Main and dedicated accounts both.
4.2 Data Plans: Prepaid
| Plans >> | MBV 250 | MBV 400 | MBV 650 | MBV 1000 | MBV 3001 |
| Plan Price in Rs. (Service Tax Extra) | 250 | 400 | 650 | 1000 | 3001 |
| Free data usage in GB | 0.30 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 5.00 | Unlimited |
| Validity (Days)* | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Data Charges in Rs./MB** | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | - |
* This will increase the validity of Main and dedicated accounts both. ** Data charges beyond free usage shall be deducted from the available balance in his main account.
4.3 Data Top Ups : ( Inclusive of Service Tax)
| Price of Top-up | Validity in days | Free Data Usage |
| Rs 120 | NIL | 100 MB |
| Rs 225 | NIL | 300 MB |
| Rs 260 | NIL | 500 MB |
| Rs 330 | NIL | 1GB |
4.4 Data Plans: Postpaid*
| Plans >>>> | MB 250 | MB 400 | MB 650 | MB 1000 | MB 3000 |
| Fixed Monthly Charges (Rs)# | 250 | 400 | 650 | 1000 | 3000 |
| Free data usage per month in GB | 0.3 | 1 | 2 | |
