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COIMBATORE, Dec. 23

WHILE the imminent entry of Reliance Infocomm has set off expectations of a drastic fall in NLD and local telephone rates, the mobile phone tariff may not be affected in a big way.

The mobile phone tariff is already very low and a further drop in rates is not on the anvil, according to Mr R.A. Venkitachalam, Chief Operating Officer, BPL Mobile, Tamil Nadu and Kerala Circle.

Answering a question at a press conference as to where the cellular phone tariff would head with Reliance Infocomm expected to roll out a very competitive tariff rate for basic telephony, he said, ``our own feeling is that, reading of the market is that, the prices - be it for airtime rates or even for long distance traffic - has become extremely competitive already.''

He said any further reduction in airtime rates would primarily be introductory in nature rather than a permanent shaving off of a large chunk of the pricing. He expected the airtime rates in the current band to stay.

The rates were already at a low level and he did not expect any precipitous fall in rates anymore. He said any reduction in long distance telephony rates would not have a material impact on airtime rates of cellular phone operators.

The cellular operators provided access at their networks and carried long distance calls on the networks of long distance operators. If the charges for the latter came down, then the billed amount for that portion of the calls would come down but not for airtime used. But he was confident of getting the best possible rates because BPL Mobile was one of the largest originators of NLD traffic.

The BPL Mobile COO said it was the access charges which were determined by the mobile phone operators, and it was already low. In particular, the airtime rates in Tamil Nadu were the lowest in the country.

Mr Subir Ghosh, Deputy COO, BPL Mobile, Tamil Nadu Circle, said the primary focus of his company was on capacity expansion to cater to the growing traffic demand.

While the average airtime usage per subscriber in the country was around 350-400 minutes a month, in Tamil Nadu it was as high as 600+ minutes.

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