BSNL tablet gets over one lakh pre-order requests, says manufacturer

BSNL Pantel Technologies Tablet

 Pantel Technologies, a Noida-based company claimed that it has received more than one lakh pre booking orders over phone and online for the three BSNL tablets, announced by state-run BSNL last week.

The three tablets, bundled with BSNL connection, are in the price range of Rs 3,499 - Rs 12,500.

"We have received more than one lakh pre booking orders over phone and online for the three tablets which we have launched in association with BSNL, said Virendra Singh, managing director of Pantel Technologies."

He further added that the company has got an order for two lakh tablets from Sahara India.

The tablet war is getting tenser among the network operators, as they are looking to expand their subscriber base. Last year, Reliance Communication successfully launched its 3G tablet, which accounts for more than 20 percent market share in Indian tablet market.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has already announced its plans to bring LTE tablet this year along with the launch of its scheduled mid-year LTE launch.

However, BSNL's entry-level tablet will be competing with the Aakash tablet, which has already created much hype around it. Though, there are reports that the Ministry of HRD is not satisfied with the manufacturer, Data wind over quality issues and seeking new manufacturers for the future manufacturing purposes.

The BSNL tablet, Penta IS701R, is a WiFi only device with Android 2.3 operating system, 1 GHz processor and 256 MB RAM. The tablet also has an HDMI port through which it can be connected to a TV. Its 7 inch resistive touchscreen has 800 x 600 pixel resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio.

The tablet has a 3000 mAh battery and 2 GB internal memory which can be expanded through a micro SD card. The tablet also has a VGA front facing camera for video calling.

BSNL's mid-range 7 inch tablet is named Penta Tpad_ws704c. It has the same specifications as Penta IS701R, but offers added 3G connectivity through a SIM slot, inbuilt A-GPS, an accelerometer, and Bluetooth. It has a 2 megapixel rear camera and a bigger 512 MB RAM for faster performance.

The most expensive among the three is the Penta Tpad WS802C, which has an 8 inch capacitive screen and a SIM slot for 3G/2G connectivity. It too comes with a faster 1.2 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM. The internal memory is also bigger at 4 GB. Rest of the features like GPS, camera and Bluetooth are same as those in the 704C.

The government run mobile service provider BSNL holds 56.94percent of the broadband market share with reported subscriber base of 11.95 million Internet subscribers at the end of September 2011 as against 11.63 million at the end of June 2011