Ranchi, Sept. 1: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has decided to resume CellOne connections in the capital from tomorrow.
The BSNL had stopped giving CellOne connections about two weeks ago following complaints of “congestion”. The telecom giant also plans to give new ExCel connections from October 1.
The telecom major will launch its “CellOne Student Power 99”, aimed at targeting the young generation, from tomorrow. Under the scheme, school and college students can get CellOne connections on a monthly rent of Rs 99 instead of Rs 225..
Chief general manager telecom (Jharkhand circle) Mahendra Kumar told reporters that the BSNL had suspended new CellOne and ExCel connections in the capital due to “congestion”. “The demand had exceeded our capacity in Ranchi and therefore we had to stop giving connections. However, we will start giving CellOne connections from tomorrow while ExCel connections will be given from October 1,” Kumar added.
According to him, the Jharkhand circle plans to give 60,000 mobile connections during 2003-2004. Till July 31, there were about 61,500 mobile connections, he said, adding that efforts were being made to procure equipment to strengthen cell sites.
The CellOne Student Power scheme will be valid for one year after which the student can shift to any available plan. To become eligible for the scheme, the subscriber should be a student of any recognised school or college. S/he will be required to fill up a mandate form by his/her parents/guardians to allow existing deposit of his BSNL telephone towards cellphone registered under this scheme.
No security deposit will be charged for local connections but Rs 2,000 will be charged for getting local and STD facility. Calls and other value-added services would be charged as in plan-225.
General manager (finance) B.P. Singh said the special drive was being launched to recover the outstanding amount which stood at Rs 80.79 crore on May 31. Individual subscribers topped the list of defaulters with an outstanding amount of Rs 70 crore.
