HCL and BSNL join to offer PC-broadband combo for under Rs 400 per month.

A government subsidy, coupled with offerings from India’s national telecom provider and biggest indigenous computer maker will soon fuel India’s ambitious broadband penetration programme for the remote and rural hinterland.

The Department of Telecom’s Universal Services Obligation Fund will pitch in with Rs 4500 for every new broadband connection that state-funded provider BSNL will offer across its nearly 30,000 rural and remote exchanges.

To make this happen BSNL has joined hands with leading IT provider HCL Infosystems to tap the latter’s Bharat PC offering. BSNL will offer the HCL-made PC for a nominal payment of Rs 2250 followed by a monthly payment of Rs 300 for the machine and a subsidized broadband package at Rs 99 or Rs 150 per month.

The National Broadband Penetration Programme, arguably be the largest government program to promote rural connectivity till date, aims to break through the affordability barrier and power the next million PC+ Broadband connections in untapped markets of India.

HCL’s Bharat PC configuration:
Intel 945GSE based main board with Intel Atom Processor N230
Microsoft Windows Vista Starter with Windows Live Essentials
Antivirus with one year\
512 MB RAM
80 GB Hard Disk Drive

Sep 21 2009