The Bharat Sanchar Nigam limited (BSNl) would invest Rs830 crore for improving services in Odisha and half of that amount would be spent on the broadband network in the current financial year, Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday. Inaugurating Wi-Fi hotspot zone created by BSNl at lord Jagannath Temple, Prasad said, “During the current financial year, a project outlay of Rs830 crore has been earmarked for BSNl Odisha for various projects including the Rs400 crore earmarked for NOFN (National Optical Fibre Network).”
BSNl will provide free Wi-Fi service for 30 minutes per 24 hours, limited to three times in a month, which visitors can utilise in multiple sessions. “After free usage limit of 30 minutes is exhausted, a customer can continue using the service on paid basis for which subscription plans are available in the denomination of Rs30, Rs50, Rs90 and Rs150 for validity of 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 120 minutes and one day, respectively,” BSNl Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said.
BSNl has already extended similar Wi-Fi facility in the world famous Sun Temple at Konark. Prasad mentioned that BSNl plans to commission 372 2G mobile sites and 193 3G BTS (mobile towers). Under the NOFN project, BSNl has plans to cover 3,369 village panchayats in 167 blocks this fiscal. Shrivastava said it will cover 15 revenue districts including Boudh, Cuttack, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Gajpati, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Khurda, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh and Puri.