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Mr C. Sivasankaran, promoter of Aircel, addressing a press conference in Chennai on Monday.

CHENNAI, Dec. 23

AIRCEL Ltd, cellular operators and part of the Chennai-based Sterling Group, has launched earn as you talk - Talk and Take - tariff plan for five years and also a reward programme to its existing post-paid mobile customers. Both the plans would start from January 1, 2003.

As per the ``talk and take'' plan, a subscriber would pay an upfront amount of Rs 19,500 for the Aircel connection and avail an outgoing airtime free up to 1,200 minutes per month. After 1,200 minutes of usage, subscribers would have to pay Rs 1.20 for a three-minute call (incoming airtime is free). Further, they would be entitled to earn a reward of rupee one per minute, payable for every minute of outgoing airtime used by them.

The maximum reward shall not exceed Rs 20,400 and the reward would be given at the end of the 60 months, Mr C. Sivasankaran, Promoter, Sterling Group, told at the launch here.

On the reward plan to existing Aircel customers, Mr Sivasankaran said that subscribers would be entitled to earn a reward of one rupee per minute, payable for every minute of outgoing airtime used by them. The plan is valid for 60 months. The reward calculation and the duration would be the same as that of ``talk and take'' plan.

Asked how he would fund the rewards, Mr Sivasankaran said, ``Aircel was the only profitable cellular company in the country and we have enough cash with us.'' For the year ended March 31, 2002, Aircel made a net profit of Rs 40 crore on a turnover of Rs 270 crore. Operating in entire Tamil Nadu, except Chennai, it has a subscriber base of about 2.5 lakh, with a capacity to reach eight lakh, he added.

When asked whether TRAI's (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) approval was not required, Mr Sivasankaran said, as per the recent guidelines, any plan could be sent to TRAI within one week of its launch. "We do not think TRAI would reject out plan, since it (the plan) was within the authority's guidelines," he added.

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