NEWS: BSES to provide unlimited Internet for Rs.999 a month

[Frederick Noronha <fred@bytesforall.org>]

India-IT-BSES

BSES to provide unlimited Internet for Rs.999 a month

by Shiv Kumar, India Abroad News Service

Mumbai, Jan. 15 -- Bombay Suburban Electric Supply Limited (BSES), the
private sector electricity company which supplies power to suburbs in
India's commercial capital Mumbai, is entering the Internet Service Provider
(ISP) business in a big way.

BSES has announced plans to sell its Internet services under the brand name
powersurfer.net. A subscriber can avail broadband Internet connectivity by
depositing a sum of Rs.5,000 or by paying Rs.999 a month without incurring
any additional charges like telephone dial-up expenses, said BSES managing
director R.V. Shahi. The customer also won't be required to install
expensive cable modems as subscribers to Internet on cable services do.

The company has rolled out a fiber optic network covering most of the city
and its suburbs and will begin offering "continuously on" broadband Internet
connectivity from February.

According to BSES officials, the company is connecting its power stations
and sub-stations in Mumbai using fiber optics. "We will put up nodes in
every building from where individual subscribers will be linked up to
receive 64 kbps connectivity," an official of Regale Technologies, a BSES
franchisee who is servicing the northern Mumbai suburbs of Kandivli and
Borivli, said.

BSES, which also plans to put up its own international satellite gateway
from February, is aggressively marketing the new broadband service.  "BSES
broadband Internet access costs just Rs.1.40 per hour all inclusive," said a
BSES official.

On the other hand, Internet access by the state-owned international
telecommunication service provider Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) and
other private Internet Service Providers (ISP) cost more than Rs.30 an hour.
In addition to Internet access being priced at Rs.7.50 per hour, a
subscriber has to pay telephone dial-up charges of Rs.24 per hour.

BSES has a right of way in Mumbai, which enables it to dig up roads and lay
cabling, allowing it to have a big advantage over other potential ISPs like
cable operators. As in other Indian cities, Mumbai's cable television
operators string cables up on trees. In addition, access to Internet on the
cable requires the purchase of a cable modem, which is priced at Rs.8,000 a
piece. This has hampered the growth of Internet services offered by cable
operators.

Incidentally, Indian business conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)
has a 26.6 percent stake in BSES. RIL is entering the broadband business in
a big way by way of cabling and exploiting its synergies with BSES. The
RIL-BSES combine is likely to emerge as a major player in the convergence
arena with a huge stake in the infrastructure and content areas, according
to analysts.

Reliance Industries has indicated it will play a big role in the content
business and set up huge multiplexes in Mumbai as part of its business plan.

--India Abroad News Service