BSNL plans big with WiMAX
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WiMAX is on the international radar ever since it first made news. Using the technology, upto 30 km of wireless connectivity is possible. Reliance, Intel and a host of others have been testing WiMAX for some time now. The promise that WiMAX makes holds the key to development of India. Rural India, to be specific. If rural India needs to be connected and connected well, WiMAX is the technology India should be looking at. The rural India should have been connected 5 years back. Still, if, at a lower cost (and I mean MUCH lower), the connectivity can be provided, no one’s complaining.
BSNL’s plans are expansive. 40,000 connected schools. E-education. E-medication. Remote medical facilities and the likes. 25,000 villages will be connected in all. This is a huge project. Tender worth Rs.2000 crore will be released shortly. BSNL is currently waiting for a nod from DoT.
BSNL is known for making late entry into the markets and then using its product planning, product placement and moreover, pricing, acquire a major chunk of the market that it is operating in. Although it was late to enter the mobile phone market, once it did, in 2002, with its CellOne brand (for postpaid) and Excel (for prepaid), it soon was a majority player. What helped BSNL was its nationwide presence, its ability to reduce prices, being a public sector player and smart marketing. It advertised its service for the rural population.
Similar things happened with the introduction of BSNL’s broadband internet service DataOne. Started on the Asynchronous-DSL technology (ADSL), through clever pricing, BSNL soon became the default choice for anyone wishing to have a broadband internet connection. Later, the nation saw BSNL allowing 2Mbps connection speed for the home user. This, when it was predicted that India will take quite some time to reach standard home connectivity speeds of 256 kpbs.
BSNL, over the years, seems to have learnt the message of business and management. This time, though it’s band on time. BSNL’s service comes at a point when the consumers are having serious problems with Reliance’s WiMAX service. Once again, BSNL has the opportunity to tap into the market. Although it seems that the WiMAX , as a technology still needs to mature, a first mover advantage always counts.
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