Date:12/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/12/stories/2008111258780100.htm
Front Page Now desktop at Rs.2,999, courtesy BSNL Sandeep Joshi NEW DELHI: Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja on Tuesday launched a unique initiative of the state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to provide affordable computing service to the masses through IT company Novatium Solutions Pvt. Ltd. BSNL has tied up with Novatium Solutions to provide its broadband services with latter's home computing service 'Nova netPC.' A consumer will get a desktop computer at Rs.2,999 (excluding taxes) on a monthly subscription of Rs.175, while the monthly broadband packages start at Rs.99. Speaking at the event, Mr. Raja said this initiative would ensure easy computer access to people in both rural and urban areas, besides helping in the growth of broadband. "We have grown from a meagre 1.8-lakh broadband subscribers in March 2005 to over 50 lakh in August this year. Our target is to hit two crore broadband household base by 2010. This affordable service by BSNL will contribute to this," he added. According to BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal: "BSNL has been constantly innovating to champion the adoption of broadband usage in the country. With our huge connectivity and infrastructure, BSNL hopes this new service would help in computing and broadband penetration in the country." Informing about Nova netPC, Novatium Solutions CEO Alok Singh said: "It is an affordable and simple desktop. We have made it very user-friendly so that it can now be operated like any household appliance. Nova netPC allows you to do computing without the hassles of software upgrades and anti-virus downloads. We are aiming a subscriber base of 1.25 lakh in the country by the end of this financial year." To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
