BSNL CUG plan covers TN police

Chennai: In what seems to be one of the biggest marketing effo­rts to stay afloat in the mo­bile phone service bus­iness, the BSNL plans to bring nearly 10 lakh subscr­ibers under the um­­brella of one CUG (clo­sed user group) through the TN police.

Senior police and government officials claim that BSNL has offered competitive rates and features which add to its ot­her inherent advanta­ges of being a public sector entity with coverage in the remotest of areas. All ranks of the department from director general of police to constable including ministerial staff will be covered thr­ough the scheme. “The cu­rrent co­v­erage is ab­out 12,181 personnel at a cost of Rs 2.05 cr­ores. The actual str­ength of TN police is around 1.20 lakh personnel. Now the ent­ire police personnel will be covered in the modified CUG at an an­nual cost of Rs 3.288 cr­ore,” an official noted.

In the new scheme, pr­actically all official calls made by any rank from constable to DGP will be covered under CUG and will be free. The scheme also offers 50 free SMSs. While CUG numbers in the previous scheme we­re designation based, in the modified scheme, nu­mbers will be given to a particular officer which s/he can maintain till ret­irement. Family SIM ca­rds will be supplied free of cost. This means that most of his / her pe­r­sonal calls are also covered under the CUG and are free. “It will be better if the BSNL all­o­ws number portability in the scheme for us if we are using mobile numb­ers of other service pro­vi­­ders,” an officer noted.

The BSNL has also agreed for post-paid CUG to senior officers, which will be linked to the larger prepaid CUG. Officers will be able to continue to use their current BSNL numbers which wi­ll be made part of CUG. They will have to co­ntinue to bear the re­ntals for their post-paid co­nnections. Rei­­mburs­ement provision for this is rs1,200 per month.