He told presspersons that at present four lakh lines of capacity build up is going on with respect to the state of the art 3G services in Tamil Nadu. Seventeen lakh capacity build up is going on with respect to 2G services. While the amount being spent for 3G services is Rs. 130 crore, for 2G services it is Rs. 870 crore. In total, a sum of Rs. 1,000 crore is the cost for phase five project for Tamil Nadu, Mr. Varadarajan said.

The 3G services will be introduced in 38 cities like district head quarters and places like Kodaikanal, Hosur etc. Already it has been introduced in cities like Coimbatore (Union Minister for Information Technology Raja inaugurated it at Coimbaotre on January 22). Later it was given to Ooty, Koonoor, Nagercoil, Kanyakumari, Erode etc.

3G services will be launched very shortly in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur. Already 10 sites are radiated at Thanjavur for testing purpose. After thorough testing and installing of other BTSs, commercial launch of 3G services are expected by this month end in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur. With this Mobile TV, High speed Internet connectivity on Mobile, video phone etc will be available for the first time to the Thanjavur and Tiruvarur Public.

J.V. Raja Reddy, General Manager, BSNL, Thanjavur said that WiMAX equipment has been installed in all the seven places in Thanjavur Secondary Switching Area (SSA) and the testing of the equipments is in the final stages. WiMAX is abbreviation for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access and it gives wireless broad band connectivity for a distance of 15 kms at one Mbps speed. The Wi MAX equipment is installed at Budalur, Ammapettai, Needamangalam, Tiruvarur, Mannargudi, Peravurani and Orathanadu.

Earlier, the CGM inaugurated one new Customer Service Centre at Centre Telegraph complex at Thanjavur by bringing all the services under one roof with latest facilities for the benefit of Thanjavur public. The centre will function from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. throughout the year.