BSNL- HCL Deal For Better Penetration Of Rural Broadband Services

Government telecom operator, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, and HCL Infosystems, a major IT player, have joined hands for working on National Broadband Penetration Programme. This is an initiative taken by the government for ensuring a faster penetration of information technology in rural India.

The Universal Service Obligation Fund, which was initiated by Department of Telecommunications, will be controlled by BSNL for the implementation of this project. USOF was set up to enable BSNL to provide broadband to rural areas at a subsidized rate.

USOF will provide a subsidy of Rs.4,500 per broadband connection that BSNL will roll out through its 27,789 rural and remote telephone exchanges.

The customers of the rural regions can avail this service at Rs.2,250 after which they have to make a monthly payment of Rs.300 for computing device and Rs. 90 or Rs. 150 for the broadband services.

Personal computers will be available at HCL's Touch outlets that have a network across more than 4,000 towns.

"This is indeed one of the major initiatives to bridge the digital divide by offering personal computers plus broadband at subsidised rates to our customers," said BSNL chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal. HCL will also be putting up call centres for technical assistance.