New Delhi: The government yesterday announced that Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) will be launching broadband services at a rate of Rs500 a month for 256 kbps throughout the country starting on January 15.

MTNL will launch the services in Delhi and Mumbai and BSNL will launch it in Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad to begin with.

This was announced by the communications and information technology minister, Dayanidhi Maran, while addressing the meeting of the members of the consultative committee attached to his ministry. The department of telecom is targeting around 10 million broadband service users by the year 2007.

Maran said that while competition was charging Rs3,000 a month for a 256 Kbps connection, the telecom PSUs have agreed to provide the same services at Rs500 a month.

BSNL has tied up with a number of technology providers and franchisees to offer broadband services. Maran said that the Government has relaxed the conditions for outdoor use of frequencies to promote Wi-MAX and Wi-Fi.