Tata offers 1 paisa ph call to US

“We have rolled out this new ISD pack only in Punjab keeping in mind that most of people from here live in the US and Canada and this new tariff will allow their near and dear ones the convenience of affordable calling to these countries,” company’s Chief Operating Officer (Punjab,Haryana and Himachal Pradesh),Aditya Gupta told reporters here today.

The new offer comes with a pack of Rs 59 with validity of 30 days and Rs 205 with a talk time of Rs 145 along with validity of 30 days,he said.

According to Gupta,their new ISD tariff for the US and Canada was quite economical compared to tariff of other cellular operators which charge Rs 6.40 a minute for calls made to these countries.

Describing Punjab as a potential market for ISD calls,Gupta said that the total ISD market size (put together ISD calling of all the operators) in the state estimated at about 40 million minutes per month. “Our new offer will make this current ISD market expand in a big way,” he asserted.

Tata Docomo is the GSM joint venture between Tata Teleservices and Japanese telecom major NTT Docomo.

Tata Teleservices has 2.5 million subscribers out of which over one million are GSM subscribers.

Asked about whether calling made to other countries can be incorporated in this new offer,Gupta said the company was working on it. “The UK may have the potential (to be included in such offers),” he said.

Last year,Tata Docomo shook the country’s telecom market with its revolutionary offer by rolling out ‘one paisa per second’ tariff for local calls. “We want our subscribers should pay only for what they use and this tariff is now extended to international calling as well,” he said.

Currently,Tata Docomo charges six paisa per second for calling made to the US,Canada,Australia and the UK while it charges 11 paise per second for calling to the Gulf and Nepal.