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PM launches BSNL's cellular services

He was speaking after launching the countrywide cellular services of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited in Lucknow by making the inaugural call to Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani in New Delhi from the Raj Bhawan in Lucknow.

Vajpayee lauded this initiative of BSNL describing it as a great step forward in the field of telecommunications.

Observing that there are people who still thought that the country needed more food than telephones, the prime minister said it is a fact that the facility has improved the living standard of the people and brought them closer to each other.

He recalled the times when telephones were a scarce commodity. But now there was no scarcity of either the instruments or of immediate availability of phone connections, both mobiles and the traditional ones.

Vajpayee said he was happy to observe that today there were as many as 1 crore (10 million) mobile phone users in the country and they were gradually becoming more popular than the stationary phones.

The main emphasis of the country was to continue to make strides in the fields of science and technology where India has made a place for itself, Vajpayee said, adding there was a lot of competition in the field of science and technology which has helped the country win laurels and helped its rapid development and progress.

Earlier, Union Minister for Telecommunications Pramod Mahajan higlighted the salient features of the mobile service started by BSNL.

While the private companies in the field of mobile service were confined to particular areas, BSNL services would be available throughout the country, he said, adding that by March next year this service would be extended to every district in the country.

Pointing out that BSNL has decided to keep its tarrif at the lowest, he said this has been done in order to make this service easily affordabale to the common people.

Mahajan exuded confidence that the cellphone facility of BSNL would also prove to be the number one service in the country and hoped that BSNL would live upto the expectations of the people.

Mahajan said the country has taken great strides in the field of telecommunications ever since the present government took over at the Centre.

While there were only 2.50 lakh (250,000) mobile users in 1998, today the figure of those using this facility has soared to 82 lakhs (8.2 million).

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