The BSNL plans to migrate 5 per cent of its customer base of over 5-crore to 3G around the middle of 2009. Movie-on-demand, video streaming and video calling are among the services promised by 3G cellphone technology and would reach all south Indian mobile users soon. Approximately 9 million handsets would be obtained for the four southern states. Infrastructure and handsets would be ready for commercial launch by mid-April.
The cheapest 3G instrument is expected to cost around Rs.7,000, and the initial Subscriber Identity Module charge would be Rs.300. Once 3G was launched for commercial use, both local and STD video calls could be made, with charges at Rs.2 (local) and Rs.3 (STD) per minute respectively.
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