DOT : 

Pune Telecom plans cellphone, Internet service  

Pune Telecom is set to enter the hi tech world by launching its own cellular phone and Internet service. Telephone connection within 10 days will also be on its agenda for the new year. 

The Telecom department will also provide Internet service to all 31 districts in Maharashtra by January 26. The service is available in nine districts of  Maharashtra at present. The department had also undertakren an ambitious programme of connecting all the districts in Maharashtra by laying optic fiber line. Pune Telecom would be laying 72,000 km optic  fiber line within a year and all the tehsils would also be connected with each other in the second phase of the project. The facility of intelligent netwrok, which was available only in Pune, will be extended to Nashik and Solapur within three months. The department had installed capacity of 4.11 lakh lines with 3.81 lakh operative connections. Pune Telecom had a waiting list of 49,224 consumers and had provided 65,400 new connections last year. Pune Telecom had earned a revenue of Rs 470 crore in the last financial year and 14 new exchanges were opened. The department had planned to add 1.89 lakh lines while new technologies would also be introduced at Maharashi Karve, Bhosari, Akurdi, Sangvi, Kothrud, Kondhwa, Baner, Vimannagar, Katraj and Market Yard in the coming days.

Pune Telecom plans ISP, cellular service. It is not only readying to offer Internet access services but will also roll out a cellular service soon.  

If the high teledensity metro of Bombay is not counted, Pune Telecom accounts for about 30 per cent revenue in the Maharashtra telecom circle.  Pune Telecom's Internet services are expected to be operational by December but cellular service could take some time

For more information contact:                                                                                                                                            

  STPI                                        VSNL                                    DOT