BSNL has gone on a renewed marketing blitz to attract more customers to its broadband service. The latest move includes a reduction in the HCL PC + BSNL Broadband offer, dropping the price down to Rs.500 per month. Moreover, the monthly modem rental of Rs.100 has also been dropped.

Besides the PC combo, BSNL are also offering discounts and freebies to dial-up users and new phone subscribers. All this is in a bid to meet a target of 1 million subscribers (previously an ambitious 3 million) by the end of this financial year. The current BSNL subscriber base stands at a modest 235,000.

The Hindu has an article on the possibility of a Subsidised/Free PC named "iT" making it into the Indian market. The idea behind this project is that these computers will be distributed for free but are supported by - for want of a better term - "Adware".

The keyboards that come with these PCs have a set of large and prominent keys that link to the services provided by various companies. These companies in turn pay large sums of money to be linked via these keys, thus offsetting the price of the computer.

Aiming to promote growth in the telecom sector, the DoT is apparently considering implementing a Baby Bell-like split of BSNL into four regional arms - North, South, East and West.

According to the proposal, the North and Western arms would merge with MTNL's Delhi and Mumbai operations respectively. All four arms along with a mobile unit - BSNL Mobile, and an infrastructure unit - BSNL Infrastructure would operate under the aegis of a parent company - BSNL Holdings.

Intel has decided to kill the Bangalore based Whitefield project. The much hyped processor would have been the first to be designed and developed entirely in India, but Intel India pretty much shot itself in the foot when it had to let 250 employees go over an audit scandal. Following the axeing of a significant portion of his department, the Whitefield project head jumped ship in August, thereby (presumably) prompting the slide.

UK based Vodafone has bought a 10.05% stake in Bharti Televentures Limited - owners of the brand Airtel - India's largest mobile operator. The deal worth USD 1.5 billion, is said to be the largest ever foreign investment in India, and marks Vodafone's second foray into the Indian market. The British giant had previously invested in RPG Cellular, but sold its stake to Aircel in 2003.

Incidentally, Vodafone's current CEO is an Indian - Arun Sarin.

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MTNL, in a bid to meet subscriber targets, has lowered the price of its basic plan from Rs.399/month to Rs.199/month. These basic plans are however, severely restricted by extremely low download limits.

It is expected that BSNL - MTNL's sister company - will soon follow suit.

GAIL, PowerGrid Corporation Ltd and RailTel have entered into a strategic alliance to pool their bandwidth infrastructure, thereby forming India's second largest (after BSNL) bandwidth network. The three companies control close to 60,000 kms of fibre between them, and are scheduled to increase this even further in the next few years.

VSNL's acquisition of international bandwidth provider TeleGlobe has been approved by the latter's shareholders. This follows VSNL's acquisition of the Tyco Global network about a year ago.

Full story: Business Week,

Bloomberg, among others is carrying a story highlighting recent incidents where the tendrils of politicisation (the repercussions of which are well known) seem to be creeping into the Indian software and BPO industry. The article highlights the ongoing Devegowda vs. Narayana Murthy row, and recent calls for unions in the software industry.

Full story: Bloomberg.

The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting article on the Indian government's policy to not share seismology data with international bodies due to concerns that this might compromise the security of our nuclear testing programme. The October 8th earthquake is now apparently forcing a reevaluation of this policy:

Kapil Sibal, the minister of science and technology, acknowledged to reporters in Delhi last week that "India surely needs to network with the rest of the global earthquake community. It needs to re-think on all old issues."