(a) whether the MTNL and IDBI have entered into an agreement to facilitate payment of telephone bills through ATM Card and Internet banking;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Government propose to provide this facility in other cities of the country also; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRIMATI SUMITRA MAHAJAN)
(a) Yes, Sir.
(b) An agreement for collection of telephone bills through Internet and ATMs between MTNL, Delhi and IDBI was executed for three month`s period on 25.06.2002. Collections were started during the month of August, 2002 and still continue. The scheme has again been approved for a period of one year. No such agreement has been signed for MTNL, Mumbai Unit.
(c) & (d): In order to provide similar facilities in other cities, BSNL has entered into Memorandum of Understanding with a number of prominent Banks namely Punjab National Bank, ICICI, UTI, HDFC, Citi Bank, Standard Chartered and Bank of Punjab to facilitate payment of Telephone bills through ATM Card, Internet Banking and other electronic banking facilities. These facilities have been initially introduced in the cities of Kolkata, Pune, Aurangabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Dehradun, Bhubaneshwar and Thiruvananthapuram.