BSNL – VoIP and IPTV gimmick

January 11, 2007 · Filed Under Broadband, IP, Telecom 

Calcutta Telephones – BSNL Kolkatta is planning to provide free calls to its ITPV subscribers on BSNL fixed line phones. The calls are likely to be powered by VoIP technology and BSNL plans to waive the upload / download bandwidth used by such calls.

I don’t find a compelling reason to subscribe to BSNL’s over-hyped IPTV. Does BSNL or its ISV have the compression and transimission technology that they can deliever the Audio / Video quality of Dish TVs on 256 Kbps broadband ? Last July, I had spoken to few engineers working on / behalf of Bharti Airtel but wasn’t satisfied with their response, but all I understood was UT Starcomm was powering their backend and since then their is no development on IPTV from Airtel. I would like to advise caution to initial IPTV subscribers on BSNL network – BSNL has unlimited bandwidth broadband plan only for 256Kbps segment. So if you subscribe to IPTV on any other plan better check out the data usage rates and they are not cheap at all.

BSNL is all set to lure subscribers with 30 free movies every month. Additional movies can be viewed for as low as Rs 5. Just yesterday I had written that IPTV, Cable and Dish TV service providers are also longing for a piece of Home video market in India.

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Comments

2 Responses to “BSNL – VoIP and IPTV gimmick”

  1. Deepak on August 11th, 2007 7:04 pm

    There are always technology issues on the beginning of launch of a service and things improve as time pass on and people working gain some experience. Moreover the service was about to be launched in april 07, and is still awiting(today is 11 aug)

  2. Tata Sky vs Dish TV - Bharat-Voice: Voice for the new India on September 15th, 2008 5:18 am

    [...] Originally Posted by rms12 I think 4-6 Mbps is only from BSNL exchange to your home. But in case of broadband, it’s (bandwidth) valid for WWW network also, for which provider company has to shell good amount of money. Hmm, maybe right! Also, 1. Nothing has been said about Data Usage Rates. i.e Rs. x per min of IPTV usage. I suspect that would be a fine print. 2. IPTV would be available if the distance between your home and BSNL exchange is Max. 2-3 Kms. limitations in physical infrastructure? [...]

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