BSNL woos rural consumers with discounts, offers

 P Raghavan, Chief General Manager, Karnataka Telecom Circle, Bangalore, said, “Free modems, discounts on BSNL broad band connections, slashed prices on downloads like 15 paise per Mega Byte (MB) download during nights in villages - these are part of the objectives to empower rural areas. Discounts to central and state government employees are also given by BSNL”.

Speaking at the 9th BSNL Day celebration on Wednesday, Raghavan said that Karanataka has been the second state with the highest revenue returns, next only to Kerala. He said, “Karnataka has been the nodal agency for the last four years to be nominated for procurement of equipment and installations for the entire country”.

Raghavan said, “The organisation should not only concentrate in the tariff arena but also in providing quality customer services. Telecommunication density has increased, and  tariff has decreased dramatically. The presence of BSNL has been the restraining factor for not allowing private service providers to increase the tariff during the initial years.”

NS Ramachandran, former chairman and Managing Director MTNL, said that BSNL as a service provider should exploit the installed structures of the organisation. “There is tremendous scope. As the incumbent service provider, BSNL can lead tother private service providers in terms of technologies and structures installed”.

One of the awardees, A Shivarama Setty, Senior Sub Divisional Engineer, Bangalore Telecom District announced that part of the cash prize award that he received would be donated to the flood hit districts while the rest would be give to children in rural areas to pursue education at government schools.