Phones with WLL technology soon

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, AUG. 6. Bangalore will soon have telephones connected through Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) technology, providing coverage in ``non-feasible areas'' of Bangalore Telecom. Portable WLL handsets are also on the way.

These will be available once the network goes operational by the first week of September. A WLL Exchange of 5,000 lines capacity is being installed at Vijayanagar, with base stations at Vijayanagar, R.T. Nagar, Indiranagar and Jayanagar. Each call on the WLL line will be charged Rs. 1.20, while incoming calls will be free. The rental has been fixed at Rs. 400 a month.

Bangalore Telecom has also proposed to start Cellular Mobile Telephone Service (CMTS) and provide 25,000 mobile telephones during this year. A tender has been called, and it is in final stage of evaluation. The service is expected to commence in March 2002. Plans are being made to increase the capacity to 65,000 after the launch.

As many as 197 base stations will be set up to facilitate the CMTS, of which 41 will be on highways and 156 in towns and cities. This will be expanded depending upon the reach. Trials on the service are expected to begin by February next year.

Addressing presspersons here on Monday, the Chief General Manager, Karnataka Telecom Circle, Mr. K. Padmanabhan, said the circle planned to provide five lakh telephone connections, including 92,000 cellphones, during 2001-02. As many as 125 telephone exchanges were also planned to be started during the year. Of the target, 51,884 connections had been provided and 25 telephone exchanges opened till July 31.

On Bangalore Telecom, he said that during the year, it was proposed to install two lakh lines of exchange equipment to increase the capacity in Bangalore Telecom Network to more than a million lines. ``This will enable us to provide 1.6 lakh new connections during the year,'' he added.

Registrations for phone: Applications for new telephone connections can now be registered at eight more customer centres in addition to the counter at Amenity Block, Palace Road, Bangalore.

The new centres are at: Srinidhi Complex, 11th Cross, Malleswaram; 269/2, Jatti Motors Bldg., Mysore Road; 407(52), 1st Floor, 29th Cross, 4th Block, Geetha Colony, Jayanagar (likely to be shifted to No. 309, 9th Main, 100 Ft. Road, 5th Block, Jayanagar); 110/8, Krishna Complex, Lalbagh Road; 96, 4th Cross, Kammanahalli Main Road, HRBR Layout, 2nd Block; 219, Binnamangala, Indiranagar 2nd Stage, Behind BDA Complex; Office of DGM (Rural), Hindustan Complex, BVK Iyengar Road; and, the Office of Area Manager (West), No. 6, Rangaswamy Complex, 1st Cross, Magadi Main Road, Vijayanagar.

Calls on IVRS: The Telecom Department is studying the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) for trunk call booking. The subscriber is to dial 184 and respond to the instructions as per the digitised voice. The system, which automatically provides a ticket number, has the facility to cancel calls.

Billing: Subscribers can now pay their telephone bills at 115 more branches of three nationalised banks -- Vijaya Bank, Syndicate Bank and Indian Overseas Bank.

Also available is the facility to pay bills through the Electronic Clearance Scheme, where the money gets automatically paid through the bank account without the subscribers having to go to the counters. Telephone bill payment can also be made through the Internet (visit the website -- www.billjunction.com -- for details).

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