The BSNL’s Public Data Office (PDO) services were rolled out at Ramanahalli on the outskirts of Mysuru on Tuesday to shore up connectivity and internet service in rural areas.
The high-speed but cost-effective Wi-Fi service covers the entire village of Ramanahalli, bringing the local connectivity on par with any city or town. This is part of the public Wi-Fi policy of the Government of India to provide seamless internet connection. Officials said that Ramanahalli is the first village in the State to have Wi-Fi coverage across the entire settlement under the PDO.
Senior officials from the BSNL including Vivek Banzal, Director, Consumer Fixed Access, BSNL Board, Devesh Kumar, Chief General Manager, BSNL, Karnataka, and others participated in the inaugural programme. The officials said that Wi-Fi and internet connectivity will be rolled out across rural Karnataka in a phase-wise manner.
The BSNL has installed 8 PDO with 32 access point interfaces (API) to cover the entire village. The Wi-Fi signals will be available in a radius of 150 metres around each of the 32 access points. The people of Ramanahalli can access internet at a speed of upto 50 mbps and is a pre-paid service. There are various plans ranging from 1GB plan for ₹9 valid for 1 day to 30 GB plan for ₹69 valid for one month. Prior to the roll out and installation of access points a survey was conducted to identify the potential blackspots and bring such areas also under the network.
After the launch the officials said the service is easy to use and is available to anyone with a mobile handset. Going forward, the BSNL plans more such launches in rural areas in keeping with the objectives of the PDO.
The PDO was officially cleared by the Union Cabinet in December 2020 to the Department of Telecommunications for setting up public Wi-Fi networks by Public Data Office Aggregators (PDOAs) so as to accelerate the penetration of broadband internet services in the rural hinterland and across the country.
With mobile phones being ubiquitous and the use of internet and broadband services a necessity, the rollout of PDOs is being accelerated. Officials said apart from business it will be useful for students as well as academics has shifted to the online mode due to the pandemic.
A similar facility covering the entire horticultural university campus on the outskirts of Yelwal was also inaugurated.
