The Hindu Business Line : More pre-paid tariff cuts in offing

ARE you one of those who are confused over the selection of your mobile pre-paid card? Not surprising if you are, because the spate of tariff cuts announced by most mobile operators in the last few days may have left you wondering how the new tariffs beneficially affect your spend.

On the face of it, there is not much difference between cellular operators when it comes to refill coupon amount. But for now, Reliance subscribers have a huge advantage on the airtime tariff. For instance, while a Bharti (AirTel) subscriber using a refill coupon of Rs 324 gets to make a local call at an average of Rs 2.75 per minute, a Reliance mobile user spends almost a rupee less at Rs 1.79 per minute. Long distance calls are also 20-50 per cent cheaper on a Reliance phone. According to the estimates made by Goldman Sachs Research, Reliance Infocomm's pre-paid card offers 50 per cent more talk time compared with the tariffs offered by the rival GSM-based cellular operators.

The Reliance advantage, however, may be short-lived as GSM operators, including Bharti and Idea, are slated to announce airtime tariff cuts in the next few days.

The downside for a Reliance pre-paid user is that the entry cost is higher. For a new Reliance connection, users pay Rs 300 while for a GSM pre-paid card its only Rs 199. In addition, a Reliance subscriber is stuck with the connection as the handset he uses is bundled with the card and this cannot be used for another operator's connection. On the other hand, a GSM pre-paid card user can take advantage of hopping from one operator to another.

The third camp in this fight for the pre-paid market, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, offers some advantage when it comes to pulse rate and processing charges. While other operators offer a pulse rate of 60 seconds, BSNL gives its subscribers a 30-second pulse rate. This means that if a BSNL subscriber talks for just 20 seconds, he will be charged only Rs 1.15 and not for the entire minute as done by other operators. Therefore, for those who make short calls, BSNL offers the cheapest option.

BSNL also has a lower processing fee of Rs 78 and allows subscribers to make calls worth Rs 200 on a Rs 300 card. Other operators charge Rs 150 as processing fee, leaving talk time worth only Rs 150 for their pre-paid subscribers. BSNL also offers free national roaming as compared to Rs 2.10 charged by Reliance and Rs 5 by other GSM-based private operators.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Telecommunications | Trends

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
More pre-paid tariff cuts in offing

Sea and air transportation — Why India, China will be Asia's giants

Rlys charts course to absorb diesel price hike

Tata Steel slashes prices by Rs 2,000

Truckers offer to end strike — Seek change in mode of collecting tax

`Govt willing to explain legal position on tax'

Saras makes maiden flight — Second prototype by next year

Testing times ahead for Dalal Street

RBI torpedoes SIDBI plan to become bank