KOLLAM: Kollam will soon become a complete Wi-Fi enabled city with free connectivity thanks to the BSNL. The public sector telecom company has started installing Wi-Fi hotspots at major city centres providing high-speed internet. Installing hotspots in selected areas is part of improving the infrastructure of the company. Now Vellayittambalam, Chinnakkada, Railway Station, Kottiyam, CSI Hospital Road, Andamu-kkam, and Paravoor are Wi-Fi hotspots.
The efforts are part of expanding mobile services and offering better connectivity to its customers under the Kollam secondary switching area. The broadband speed provided by BSNL has also been raised to 1 Mbps from a slower 512 kbps. Meanwhile, Kollam MP N.K. Premachandran said he had requested the Union government to allow using the MP funds for enabling Wi-Fi for the benefit of the public. “If sanctioned,” he said, “funds will be provided to the BSNL for installing hotspots in more areas.”
Tower radiation
BSNL finds protest by the public against installing new mobile phone towers to be a major challenge in spreading its network. “The company has planned awareness programmes to address their concerns,” said V. Rajendran, the Telecom Advisory Committee Kollam secretary. “Regarding tower radiation, telecom enforcement and resource monitoring cell will measure the radiation power of sites every year. The cell covered 50 sites in Kollam secondary switching area last year and certified that the radiated power measured is much less than the permissible limits.”
