By PTI

Chennai: The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd today launched its third generation mobile services in the country from here offering a plethora of services like live TV, high speed mobile broadband and movie download.

Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi marked the formal nation-wide launch by making the first video call to union communication and IT Minister A Raja.

The 85-year old DMK president, who is convalescing at a hospital here after a spine surgery, launched the services through video conferencing.

Lauding Raja, who belongs to the DMK, for unveiling the 3G services from Chennai, Karunanidhi said he was happy to note that BSNL was launching the technology, which so far was available in developed nations in the country.

Later speaking to reporters, Raja said the 3G services would be launched in 13 more cities -- Lucknow, Agra, Ambala, Dehradun, Jammu, Shimla, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Patna, Durgapur, Haldia, Ranchi and Bhubaneshwar -- by this month end.

The commercial launch of the 3G services in Tamil Nadu would be rolled out by 20 April, he said.

BSNL chairman Kuldeep Goyal described the 3G launch as an historic event for the company. The 3G services would offer customers video telephony, high speed internet and various value added services like mobile TV, location surveillance and video on Demand, he said.

MTNL had launched the service in December last year in Delhi.