And the UT is one of the four locations where the telco is presently testing these services. Graduating from the MMS and SMS content, the new technology is being sourced to provide better services, as the 3G platform takes shape by early 2007. With the recent announcement of a Rs 21,000-crore expansion, the plethora of locationbased services is likely to give the PSU with the largest GSM network an edge over the others. Testing of these services is being carried out across the country. In the North, while Chandigarh has been chosen, it is Kolkata in the East, Pune in the West and Hyderabad in the South.
"The soft launch has been done in all the testing areas. We have kept the testing within the company among our employees and we have not involved the public as yet as the technology enables the disclosure of location of a person," says BSNL CGM Vivek Dikshit, while pegging the tentative date of a commercial launch in August. Delhi and Mumbai have been kept out of the testing loop as MTNL is planning to come up with its own version of the 3G-based services.
