BSNL slashes telecom rates by 1/3

Telecom rates crashed on Friday with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) slashing STD and cell tariffs by nearly a third. Making an outstation c...

Telecom rates crashed on Friday with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) slashing STD and cell tariffs by nearly a third. Making an outstation call from across BSNL networks will get cheaper by 33 per cent. Cell tariffs are cheaper by a similar 33 per cent for calls beyond 500 km to any fixed network. BSNL local cell rates have dropped up to 60 per cent. The rate revision will be effective September 10.

Private sector rival Hutch joined Friday’s price war, announcing a tariff cut for the post-paid segment. The company had already slashed rates in the pre-paid segment, triggered by cuts by Reliance, Bharti’s Airtel and Idea (all pre-paid).

All fixed line subscribers of BSNL will benefit from a reduction in STD charges. But for cell subscribers (both post and prepaid) only those making calls beyond 500 km will enjoy a similar reduction. For other cell subscribers, the change in STD call charges will be in the range of zero to around 16 per cent, BSNL chairman and managing director VP Sinha said.

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Among the fixed line subscribers, those making calls beyond 100 km will be charged Rs 1.20 per minute for a 60 second pulse instead of the current Rs 1.80 for 40 second pulse. Fixed-to-fixed calls beyond 200 km will be charged Rs 2.40 per minute for a 30 minute pulse in place of Rs 3.60 per minute for a 20 minute pulse. The fixed line subscriber base of BSNL is 35 million. Cell users number 7 million.

	Access Deficit Charge

			• BSNL might lose about Rs 700 crore due to a proposed reduction in access deficit charge (ADC) from global giants for incoming international calls—being considered by Trai. If the proposal to cut ADC to Rs 2 a minute from the present Rs 4.25 is implemented, BSNL may consider hiking tariff for rural subscribers, sources said. The proposed reduction in ADC in incoming ISD calls would benefit only the global carriers like AT&T, MCI, British Telecom among others, at the cost of BSNL. —ENS

BSNL on Friday also cut the prepaid cellular charges (to any cellular network) for intra-circle (local) to Rs 0.90 per minute from Rs 2.20 — a 60 per cent reduction. Prepaid subscribers can now make calls to any fixed network at Rs 1.20 per minute, down from Rs 2.40.

BSNL also announced cuts for its post-paid cellular subscribers making intra-circle calls. Calls made by customers in post-paid plan 325 to any cellular network will be reduced by 42 per cent to Rs 0.80 per minute from Rs 1.40 earlier. Calls made by post-paid 325 customers to any fixed network will be charged up to 33 per cent less.

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