Sistema launches high-speed, low-tariff data service MBlaze

Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL) has launched its high speed data service MBlaze under its mobile telephony arm MTS. The service comes bundled with free use of a few select web sites.

MBlaze which will offer speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps at a low tariff of 10 paise for 1 MB download has already signed up 2.5 million subscribers in the telecom circles of Kolkata, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bihar, Jharkhan, Delhi and Karnataka. MTS has a global subscriber base of more than 100 million.

MTS customers will now be able to use the pre-paid service at a very low rate and there will also be no roaming surcharges while using the data services on the MTS network. In addition to the eight circles in which it operates, MTS will also be available in Mumbai in December.

MBlaze services will extend to 26 cities by the first quarter next year. Presently these are available in Delhi-NCR, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, Kolakata, Durgapur and Siliguri in West Bengal, Patna in Bihar, Gangtok in Sikkim, Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy in Tamil Nadu, Kochi, Kozhikode, Thiruvanantharpuram in Kerala and Mysore, Mangalore, Behagaluru and Belgaum in Karnataka.

Addressing a press conference in Bangalore, SSTL president and chief executive officer Vsevolod Rozanov said: ''Data services are going to expand beyond the metros with people demanding real time information and knowledge. We see the market expanding beyond the corporate user to include small and medium enterprises and students,'' he added.

Meanwhile MTS is also planning a tie-up with Rajasthan government to provide internet services to educational institutes in rural areas.