2007 is BSNL's 'Year of the North East'

Public sector telecom operator BSNL has declared 2007 as the Year of the North East, to boost the tele-density of the region.

According to AK Gupta, Chief General Manager, North East circle, "This year has been declared as the Year of North East and we have given special drive to increase the tele-density in the region which is much lesser than the national average."

He said while 15 per cent of people in the country subscribe to land or mobile phones,  in the North East it is only six per cent. The teledensity in Punjab is about 75 per cent while in Chandigarh city it is 100 per cent, he added.

He also disclosed that BSNL would introduce pre-paid land line services soon and the facility of depositing the telephone bills online would also be extended to the subscribers.

He said that mobile services were not being extended to one district town and four sub-divisional towns bordering Bangladesh due to security considerations raised by the home ministry, though a special sanction had been obtained for Agartala.