The Hindu

• VSNL awarded franchisee rights for cyber cafes in 68 stations 
• First cyber cafe opened at Bangalore City Railway Station
• Each cafe will have 10 to 20 computers
• Cyber cafes will be open 24 hours

Bangalore, Jun 17: Telecommunications major VSNL is now enabling customers to stay connected on the move by setting up cyber cafes at major railway stations across the country to create user-friendly public Internet access points. VSNL has been awarded franchisee rights for running cyber cafes at 68 locations in pursuance of the agenda outlined by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in his Railway Budget for 2006-07.

The first such cyber cafe has been opened at Bangalore City Railway Station.

Speaking about the service, Shashi Kalathil, president, Broadband and Retail Business of VSNL, said, "This effort will enable VSNL fulfil the promise made in the Union Railway Budget of setting up such cyber cafes in leading railway stations in the country. We are keen on making the Internet easily available so that passengers can stay connected while on the move."

VSNL plans to make all the 68 cyber cafes operational in the next few weeks. All Tata Indicom dial-up Internet and broadband subscribers can use this facility on their existing accounts. Each of these cafes will be equipped with 10 to 20 multimedia PCs (personal computers) and will be open 24 hours. Travellers can avail themselves of Internet browsing and gaming facilities at affordable rates. VSNL also plans to offer other value-added services such as printing, scanning, mobile charging and CD-writing through these cafes.

Passengers can also use the cyber cafes for making onward bookings, checking their bank statements, tracking their investment portfolio and making ISD calls.

Tata Indicom will also create select areas in the railway station that are wi-fi enabled, allowing passengers wireless access to the Internet on their laptops or PDAs.

Flights to Pondicherry:

Jagson Airlines has begun commercial operations from Pondicherry, thus launching operations in southern India.

The airline will be operating return flights six days a week with a Dornier 228 aircraft to Chennai, Bangalore and Tirupati. The inaugural flight was on Wednesday. According to U.K. Bose, president and chief executive officer of Jagson Airlines, "The launch of these flights is a joint effort by Jagson and the Pondicherry Government to connect Pondicherry with the rest of India."

The introductory prices are Rs. 1,500 from Pondichery to Chennai and Rs. 2,500 to Bangalore and Tirupati.