In its bid to counter 4G mobile service offered by some private telecom service providers, State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) launched the Mobile Data Offloading (MDO) service to Wi-Fi covering five southern States, here on Saturday.
With the launch, BSNL has claimed that its mobile data service would become faster than 4G service in Wi-Fi hotspots.
MDO enables seamless migration of customers, who are using high-speed Internet on mobile, to continue using the service when they enter Wi-Fi hotspots. This service will not only decongest mobile network but also enable these users to continue having high-speed Internet through Wi-Fi covered area.
MDO is now commercially available in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
QuadGen Wireless Solutions Pvt. Ltd., a company with operations in India and the U.S., is the channel partner for MDO service.
Launching the service at RTTC here, BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Srivastava said, “We missed the voice bus in the past; we cannot afford to lose the data bus. Keeping this in mind, BSNL launched the MDO service, which is first in the country.”
Calling it an “alternative” to 4G services (BSNL does not offer 4G), Mr. Srivastava said the MDO facilitates faster speed than 4G service offered by some private telecoms, in Wi-Fi hotspots. “We call this 4.5G since the data sessions gets transferred to Wi-Fi hotspot on its own, enhancing Internet speed,” he explained.
Mr. Srivastava said BSNL’s first Wi-Fi hotspot was launched at Varanasi in 2014 and over 2,500 hotspots are operational across the country. By next year, over 40,000 Wi-Fi hotspots are expected to be launched to ensure digital penetration as part of Digital India, he said.
N.K. Gupta, Director (CFA), BSNL Board, New Delhi, who was present, said 40,000 Wi-Fi hotspots are being launched primarily to use them for MDO services.
Stating that BSNL was focusing on the data market, which is growing exponentially every year, he said 350 terabytes of data was being offered by BSNL to its customers every year. “Data is the future and we at BSNL are making efforts to tap the potential.”
Chief General Manager, Karnataka Telecom Circle, P. Nagaraju, said the Karnataka Circle has been allotted 1,600 numbers of 3G Base Transreceiver Stations (BTS) to strengthen GSM services. As on date, 860 have been commissioned and the balance will be done by August.
Wi-Fi services in the State are now available in 276 places covering 19 districts. In more than 84 villages, residents have been getting high-speed Internet services utilising the National Optical Fibre Network.
C.S. Rao, founder and chairman, QuadGen Wireless, spoke. N. Janardhana Rao, general manager, Karnataka Circle, and K.L. Jairam, principal general manager, Mysuru Telecom district, were present.
