MTNL and Dell to offer 3G on netbooks

Posted on 08-09-2009

The idea of always-on high-speed Internet on a netbook has always fascinated us. Sure, Tata Photon Plus and other such services has been available for some time now, but that’s still an additional modem that you have to carry around and hook-up when you want to surf the Web.

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MTNL and Dell are now seeking to change all that in a tie-up that will have the latter’s Inspiron Mini series coming bundled with 3G wireless mobility. Start up your laptop and you’re online!

“By making the Internet easier to access and easier to afford, this partnership will fast-track the growth of India’s online population while opening up new business frontiers in content development and e-commerce,” said MTNL chairman and managing director R S P Sinha.

The solution includes an embedded 3G Ericsson module with GPS and MTNL SIM on Dells select range of laptops and netbooks to give greater stability and data speeds. It also has a 3G pre-paid mobile broadband data package with national roaming facility from MTNL that eliminates the need for additional USB modem to connect to the Web.

Set to launch in Mumbai and Delhi only, the start-up price of the system is pegged at around Rs 30,000 and would initially be available only on the Inspiron Mini 10. The companies plan on expanding the service to other laptops if successful.

However, all of this does mean that you will still have to endure MTNL’s Fair Usage Policy on its ultra-expensive 3G packages…

Source: LiveMint