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In a bid to increase broadband penetration in rural India, BSNL has entered
into an agreement with HCL, under the National Broadband Penetration Project (NBPP).
Under the agreement, BSNL will provide affordable PCs to rural masses with
subsidy support of Rs 4,500 per computing device with broadband connection, from
USO Fund.
A rural customer is required to pay Rs 2,250 as down payment for a PC and
rest of the payment can be made in installments under two schemes of either Rs
455 per month for thirty-six months, or Rs 300 per month for sixty months. The
total price of PC, hence, comes out to be Rs 18,630 and Rs 20,250 respectively.
Without subsidy, the price would have been Rs 23,130 and Rs 24,750 respectively.
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| The Bharat PC concept has not
been well understood
Ajai Chowdhury,
chairman and CEO, HCL Infosystems |
The Bharat PC concept has not been well understood. Behind just providing a
simple PC and broadband, there is a lot that we have to do. It is not just
providing a PC to rural persons and the price is not just product price, says
Ajai Chowdhury, chairman and CEO, HCL Infosystems.
He says the total price includes product price, service price, cost of
finance, and a lot more that has gone into the concept.
We have set up call centers to provide the support in multiple Indian
languages to Bharat PC customers. We have created specific capability in terms
of supply chain, service, call center, and finance. We do not want rural
consumers to buy computers worth Rs 15,000 or Rs 20,000 by paying upfront. That
would have put an end to the interest of rural customers. We have developed a
specific supply chain management for this PC, he adds.
Bharat PC will be loaded with genuine Windows Vista Starter (an operating
system from Microsoft which even the company considers a failure), Intel 945 GSE
chipset, Intel Atom processor N230, 512 MB memory, 80 GB hard disk, ATX cabinet,
Internet multimedia keyboard and optical scroll mouse, 15 inch CRT monitor,
anti-virus with one year validity (BSNL says it will be for five years), ADSL2
modem, Windows Live essential. The system will have five years warranty.
Acer sells a PC in the name of e-machines configured around Intel N230
processor with 1GB DDR2 667 MHz memory, 160 GB SATA hard disk, DVD writer with
other accessories for Rs 9,990 only, exclusive of taxes.
Acer also promises one year onsite warranty on this across 187 locations in
India. However, one will have to pay approximately Rs 4,000 for 15-inch CRT
monitor, and Rs 3,000 extra for Windows XP operating system. The total cost in
this way will come to Rs 17,000 approximately, which is less expensive than
Bharat PC and has better configuration than it. If this PC was to be subsidized,
then price would further come down to Rs 12,500.
The lowest range of HCL PC (EZEEBEE TOP XP T819 PDC) on Windows Vista
Platform is built around Intel Pentium Dual Core processor E2220 and is priced
at Rs 22,990, without subsidy. In fact, its another PC on Linux platform built
around Intel Atom 230 Processor and higher configuration to Bharat PC is priced
at Rs 16,990, without subsidy.
When asked about the break-up of the total cost of Bharat PC, AK Jain,
general manager, broadband says, Bharat PC is rightly priced. The cost of the
PC alone is Rs 13,500. There are various services attached to it to make it easy
for rural customers to run this PC and use broadband. Transportation cost of
each PC is Rs 3,000, Rs 6,000 has been charged as cost of finance, Rs 3,000 for
maintenance, Rs 1,000 cost of insurance, anti-virus for five years.
Simultaneously we have given freebies like Microsoft education software, MS
Office and Internet Explorer 8.
As per the break-up given by Jain, total price of Bharat PC does not match
the price of PC as announced by BSNL. The total price as per this break-up comes
to Rs 26,500!
Prasoon Srivastava/CIOL
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in
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