Calcutta, Oct. 29: Riding on the network of private telecom major Reliance, the state government?s nodal IT agency Webel is all set to roll out its Internet services across the length and breadth of Bengal.

According to the plans drawn up by Webel, it will reach the districts as an Internet Service Provider (ISP) by March 2005.

?Reliance has laid a huge fibre optic network across the state and we are on the verge of finalising the contract with them. We are already through with pilot surveys in Durgapur and Burdwan and we are satisfied with the quality of connectivity,? confirmed S. K. Mitra, managing director, Webel, before adding that the formal announcement about the tie-up will be made in a month?s time.

He, however, mentioned that Webel was also toying with the idea of joining hands with Bharti in areas where its network quality was superior.

Webel-ISP, the brand name under which it is selling connectivity, has a subscriber-base of around 10,000 in the city. Other players in the Internet-over-cable market include Alliance Broadband, Reach2Net and VSNL.

?We will be targeting the home segment in the districts and reaching it through the cable operators,? said Mitra.

Not just competitive rates, Webel will also ensure quality of connectivity with effective ?customer servicing?, promised Mitra. According to him, Webel will walk the extra mile and see to it that cable operators maintain the ?optimum? subscriber-bandwidth ratio.

While for the moment Reliance is selling bandwidth in bulk, it has set a March 2005 deadline for a big-bang entry with its much-awaited cable and Internet services ? under the brand name Netway ? for the home-user segment in Calcutta.

?In January, we will start the services in Mumbai and Delhi and follow it up with a March launch in Calcutta,? confirmed a Reliance official from Mumbai.

?Initially we had decided to hit all the six major metros at one go, but now we have changed the schedule and will kick off in Calcutta in the second phase,? the official added.

Besides rescheduling the launch date, the private sector telecom bellwether has also modified its delivery model. Initially, Reliance had announced that cable television, Internet and telephone would be offered through one single line.

?In our earlier model, we were bypassing the local cable operator, but now we have decided to follow the local cable operator model,? the official explained.