Bharat PC and broadband from HCL-BSNL for rural India
BSNL, HCL collaborate to give subsidised PC and broadband connectivity in rural areas
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has, in collaboration with leading technology and IT company HCL, Intel, Microsoft and the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF), announced the subsidised Bharat PC, along with broadband connectivity, in rural and remote areas.
The Bharat PC – available at a cash-down payment of Rs 2,250 and a monthly installment of Rs 300 for 5 years – has been launched under the National Broadband Penetration Project (NBPP).
The Bharat PC will be available from October 1, 2009, through BSNL’s rural exchanges, BSNL’s franchise partners as well as through HCL stores.
The National Broadband Penetration Project is an India-wide initiative aimed at speeding up use of personal computer (PC) and IT in the rural areas by offering complete solutions.
The NBPP project, according to Kuldeep Goyal, chairman and managing director of BSNL, could be the biggest governmental programme so far that is meant to promote connectivity in rural India. It also intends to power the next million PC broadband connections through the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF) under the Department of Telecommunication (DOT), which has give the BSNL a subsidy to provide wire-line broadband connectivity in rural and remote areas.
The Universal Services Obligation Fund, Kuldeep Goyal said, will give BSNL give a subsidy of Rs 4,500 per broadband connection, which the BSNL will distribute through its existing 27,789 rural and remote telephone exchanges. BSNL has been granted USOF worth Rs 1,500 crore to enhance broadband penetration.
Along with Bharat PC, BSNL will give the rural customers 512 kbps subsidised broadband connection, at Rs 99 a with free download up to 400 MB a month, and at Rs 150 with free download up to 1 GB a month.
BSNL claimed that it will offer the lowest broadband tariff. For the extra download, a user has to pay 40 paise per MB of download.
For those who cannot afford even the subsidised Bharat PC, BSNL will set up 30,000 broadband kiosks.
The government of India has set a broadband penetration target of 20 million by 2010. BSNL already provides PC with Novartium for its subscribers at Rs 5,000, but “it is more urban-centric” but the Bharat PC is meant specifically for rural subscribers, Goyal said.
HCL Infosystems has set-up 2 call centres to assist consumers on the Bharat PC.
Ajay Chowdhry, chairman and CEO of HCL Infosystems, said the Bharat PC has embedded basic Microsoft software, Intel’s Atom processor, 80 GB hard disk, 512 MB RAM, 15-inch cathode-ray tube (CRT) colour monitor, and anti-virus solution.
On Linux OSS platform, the Bharat PC could have been provided at a price much less than the present total price of Rs 20,250 after the subsidy of Rs 4,500 from USOF, according to Ajay Chowdhry. Now, the total price of the Bharat PC, including the USOF subsidy, comes to Rs 24,750.
Chowdhry sought to justify the price of Rs 24,750 for the Bharat PC by citing the “ease of use” and the 5-year cost of service that will be provided in the rural areas.