BSNL to install 50 better-looking, multi-functional 'zero base' mobile sites

To demonstrate that communication can be delivered with good aesthetics, state-run BSNL plans to install 50 'zero base' mobile towers, which are better looking and multi-functional.

The concept of a 'zero site' is that it can be used as a WiFi hotspot, street light and camera and the radio units can be hidden inside the pole or underneath.

"We are focusing on zero base towers as if you see in India, the skyline is scattered with so many towers and it sometimes become an eyesore. We are also looking for a tower which could have multi functionalities like it can work as an WiFi hotspot, it can work as a light emission tower, it can work as a camera plus tower," BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava told PTI.

He said during his recent visit to Mobile World Congress, he witnessed solutions provided by equipment makers Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei and ZTE regarding the zero base towers.

"We will ask for quotes from all these players for zero base towers...initially we will begin with 50 towers to demonstrate that how communication can be delivered with good aesthetics and good looking features," Shrivastava said.

He added the cost will be a little higher than normal towers but as active infrastructure is allowed to be shared, the cost can also be shared among the operators and the city can look much cleaner.

"Slowly we can replace all ugly looking towers which are spoiling the skyline to a very good camouflaged eye soothing towers," he added.

The companies are expected to submit their quotes in March and in next six months, BSNL will come out with some kind of concept for the same.

The average cost to set up a mobile tower is anywhere between Rs 8-10 lakh.

Virtual reality set to transform filmmaking

Chris Milk stepped onto a TED Conference stage and took the audience on an awe-inducing trip into the future of movies. While much of the early attention on virtual reality has focused on use of the immersive technology in video games, Milk and his US startup Vrse are using it to transform storytelling and filmgoing. "We have just started to scratch the surface of the true power of virtual reality," Milk said. "It's not a video game peripheral. It connects humans to other humans in a profound way... I think virtual reality has the potential to actually change the world." He had everyone in the Vancouver audience at TED , which ended Friday, hold Google Cardboard viewers to their eyes for what was billed as the world's collective virtual reality experience. Google Cardboard gear is literally that -- cardboard

Explained: Camera Improvements in the New HTC 10

With the HTC 10, the Taiwanese company is promising to undo the past wrongs in the cameras of its previous flagship phones. The camera has long a weak point in HTC devices. At first, HTC sacrificed image resolution in the M8 and made the size of individual pixels larger to capture more light (what HTC called Ultrapixel). But the resulting 4 megapixel images were often fuzzy, especially when cropped or enlarged. To fix the issue, in its next flagship - the M9 - HTC went with smaller individual pixels in a 20-megapixel camera last year, but it still underperformed in extreme situations, such as indoors and close-ups. In the HTC 10, the company attempts to strike a balance with larger individual pixels (1.55µm), but not as large as before and a 12 megapixel sensor in its camera coupled with a ƒ/1.8 lens. HTC accepts that in the imaging performance in the M9 was not up to the kind of spec of what they really like to see in a flagship. HTC is giving a slight boost to the selfi...

Freedom 251: 30,000 Units Sold, Components for Up to 2.5 Million Will Be Imported

Ringing Bells, the makers of the Rs. 251 smartphone - the Freedom 251 - confirmed to Gadgets 360 on Tuesday that it has still only accepted payments for 30,000 units of the phone. It also added that the components for these phones will be imported, and only assembled in India, not made here. Ringing Bells stopped accepting orders on February 19, and claims to have received over 70 million registrations. The company President and Director both repeatedly stated that the price of the phone would be made possible through economies of scale, and making the phone in India to cut out import costs. Economies of scale? However, in a discussion with Gadgets 360 the company revealed that it had only sold 30,000 units of the phone on day one. The company has now confirmed that it has not sent out the payment emails to anyone else who registered - "we were working out details of cash on delivery, which we are announcing now, so we will be sending emails to the first 2.5...

IntellectBeat

Search This Blog