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Officials of the BSNL during a programme to launch Wings, stated to be the first telephony service in India, at Dimapur on July 23.[/caption]
Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, July 23 (EMN): The telecommunication company, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), has announced the ‘soft’ launch of ‘Wings’ in NE-II telecom circle covering Nagaland, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh.
The announcement was made by the Chief General Manager Telecom (CGMT), George T Mathai, in a press conference conducted on Monday at the conference hall of OBC Telecom Exchange Building at Super Market in Dimapur.
‘Wings’ is the company’s first internet telephony service in India. This service uses a mobile numbering scheme, using internet protocol (IP) based access network of ‘IP multimedia subsystem’ and ‘next generation network’ core switches, to allow subscribers to make and receive calls over the internet through their landline or mobile phone.
The state-owned telecom will have to link a mobile numbering scheme with the mobile app in order for calls to go through. The company is offering free audio and video calling for one year at activation free of INR 1099. This service is targeted at subscribers in area with poor mobile coverage. With the Wings internet telephony services, users can make and receive calls using broadband, Wi-Fi, 4G, or 3G internet. Whereas, video calling is only supported for Wings-to-Wings call.
This service came about after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has refreshed voice over internet protocol guidelines in October last year and something that the telecom commission approved recently in May this year.
The company has started registrations for the new services in all its telecom circles and new connections will be activated from August 1.
The consumer will be able to place international calls that will be charged in line with the existing landline tariff with an additional International Subscriber Dialling deposit of INR 2000. The app can also be configured to be used on a computer by downloading the Session Initiation Protocol Client app. It can make use of any internet connection like broadband, Wi-Fi, 3G/4G data network of any operator for placing calls. This means that one can expect robust network connectivity in areas where cellular network is weak whilst Wi-Fi connection is available.
Customers can register a new Wings connection at BSNL website www.bsnl.co.in and pay online also.
Mathai also introduced new marketing initiative of BSNL in Broadband Combo Plans. He also informed about a new service fibre to the home (FTTH), which will start soon in Dimapur and three capital city namely Kohima, Imphal, and Itanagar of NE-II telecom circle states.
Press executives were also informed about ‘satellite phone service’ which provides voice communication and messaging from any part of the globe during emergency situations. However, presently, the services will be available within India only.
It is suitable for persons working in remote areas or disaster affected areas especially for defence, border security organisations, disaster management bodies, trekkers, and fishermen.
The services are now available to government agencies, public, private enterprises, and existing users of satellite phone services.
Another BSNL service “ASEEM” was also introduced. Under this scheme, a customer can choose a landline indicator of his choice. All incoming calls to his number shall be automatically forwarded to one number of any networks of his choice without any additional cost implication. No copper wire, FTTH, or jumper in main distribution frame will be involved for providing virtual landline number for customer.
Disconnection due to non-payment customer for three months or more can take virtual landline connection under plan “ASEEM.”
Mathai also informed that 112 numbers of Wi-Fi hotspots are available in NE-II telecom circle.
He also informed that 4G services with a speed of 100 megabytes per second will be starting soon in Nagaland. For this, 38 numbers of base transceiver stations has been planned.
For more information and queries, interested consumers are requested to visit www.ne2.bsnl.co.in.
Earlier, the CGMT informed that BSNL has declared this year as the year of ‘consumer fixed axis.’