• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, Dec. 25

THE Grameen Sanchar Sewak (GSS), a pilot project of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to provide accessibility of public telephone to the rural population by using wireless in local loop (WLL) technology, is a unique step, which ought to be replicated by other countries if they want increase teledensity, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has said.

Launching the pilot project on Tuesday, the Prime Minister noted that this project should provide the roadmap for the growth of telecom in the country.

As per the scheme, 1,800 postmen, designated as Grameen Dak Sewak (GDS) will carry the wireless-based telephone in his area of operation and make the instant telephone communication facility available to the villagers while delivering their letters. For this additional service offered by GDS, they will get a commission of 20 per cent of the value of calls made by the villagers while (additional) five per cent commission will go to the Department of Posts.

The facility has also been extended for incoming calls or for outgoing messages and passing on the same to the person concerned in the village has been allowed and a charge of Rs 5 per message will be levied for conveying any incoming call/message. This amount shall be retained by the GSS.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Communications Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan, stated that in phase two of the project, the linesmen of BSNL would be roped in as GDS. The GSS project, he said, would go a long way in meeting the teledensity targets set in the New Telecom Policy 99.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
Comment on this article to BLFeedback@thehindu.co.in

Stories in this Section
WLL reaches the villages via postmen

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line