Booked but still waiting for BSNL's affordable tablets

Almost eight months after its launch, the much-talked about scheme of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to offer tablets at as low price as Rs. 3,250 remains a non-starter in Bihar and Jharkhand circle.

Dubbed as a reply to Aakash, a Noida-based company Pantel had produced the hand-held computers with calling facility for BSNL. While the cheapest one cost slightly above the market price of Aakash, the other two versions were priced at Rs. 10,999 and Rs. 13,500 with more advanced features.

As per the communique issued by the corporate office of BSNL, these tablet personal computers (PCs) were to be sold to the users by local offices of the telecom company.

However, BSNL's circle offices at Patna and Ranchi still have no idea, as to when the device would reach them for marketing.

Deputy general manager, marketing, BSNL, Umesh Prasad Sah, said the circle was waiting for supply of the equipment from the vendor to market it.

Sources in the corporate office, however, attributed it to the delay in arranging supply of the gadget and the vendorfs inability to produce the tablets on a large scale.

Two of the tablets come with 7-inch resistive screen with Android 2.3 operating system, while the third comes with an 8-inch touchscreen. According to Pantel, the T-PAD IS701R has 1GHz processor and 256M RAM and is wi-fi enabled. The built-in 2GB memory can be expanded to 32GB.

The second model T-Pad WS704C has 512MB DDRIII RAM and can be connected to TV through high definition multimedia interface (HDMI). The costliest model, T-PAD WS802C is powered by a 1.2GHz processor and 512MB DDRIII RAM and also has a built-in global positioning system (GPS).

Officials at BSNL corporate office, said those interested in tablets bundled with BSNL sim card might get it directly from online stores of the vendors. "BNSL has also tied up with two other firms, Teracom and Wishtel, recently. Anyone interested in getting economy or advanced versions of the tablets can make online purchase also," they added.