Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Dec 31, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Dec 31, 2005 |
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Telecommunications Marketing - Strategy Info-Tech - Telecommunications BSNL cuts fixed line rental by 28% — AirTel, Tata Tele snip cell rates Our Bureau
New Delhi , Dec. 30 IT'S New Year's eve and telecom operators could not be far behind in adding to the consumer's party. While state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has announced a drop in monthly rental for fixed line telephones by 28 per cent, Bharti Tele-Ventures and Tata Teleservices have announced a cut in airtime charges for international long-distance calls and prepaid local calls respectively for mobile users. Though the year belonged to mobile subscribers, BSNL has chosen to keep the biggest announcement for its 35 million fixed line users across the country for the New Year. The operator has dropped monthly rentals to Rs 180 compared with the existing rate of Rs 250 a month in urban areas and Rs 210 in rural. Though the move is expected to cost BSNL Rs 600 crore in revenues, it is aimed at stemming the flow of phone users from fixed line to cellular. BSNL lost 4.5 lakh fixed line subscribers this year due to comparatively cheaper tariffs. MTNL is also expected to follow suit with a similar offer for its fixed line users in Delhi and Mumbai. But there's good news for mobile users also. Bharti's AirTel has dropped ISD rates to Asia-Pacific countries to Rs 7.99 a minute. The initiative is part of the Bridge Mobile Alliance, which is an alliance between SingTel Mobile (Singapore), SingTel Optus (Australia), CSL (Hong Kong), Globe Telecom (the Philippines), Maxis (Malaysia), Taiwan Mobile (Taiwan) and Telkomsel (Indonesia). The move will benefit over 15 million AirTel mobile phone customers who are now paying a maximum of Rs 14 a minute for calling subscribers in these 7 countries. The offer will be valid from January 1-7. Adding to the cheer is Tata Teleservices which has taken the ongoing battle in the prepaid mobile segment a step further by introducing a lifetime prepaid card offer with a low airtime charge of 99 paise a minute. The company is also bundling a range of handsets for Rs 2,199. AirTel was the first to come up with a lifetime prepaid card which allow subscribers to take a prepaid connection without having to re-charge for lifetime and get free incoming calls by paying a one-time fee of Rs 999. Though Tata Teleservices is also charging a similar one-time fee it has among the lowest airtime charges in the prepaid segment. Both Airtel and Hutch are charging Rs 1.99 a minute for their lifetime prepaid card offer. BSNL also announced a lifetime prepaid card for Rs 949 with a pre-loaded talk time of Rs 99. BSNL has fixed local call rates at Rs 1.60 a minute for calls within BSNL's own network and Rs 2 a minute for calls to other operator's network.
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