Starting tomorrow, all incoming calls on cellular phones will be free. Long-distance calls from Tata WLL phones will cost 55 paise a minute.
The Internet can be surfed at almost half the existing rate at night. Even international calls will be cheaper by Rs 6 at Rs 18 a minute for a Reliance WLL subscriber.
However, calls from MTNL and BSNL land lines to cellular and WLL limited mobility phones will be costlier at Rs 1.20 a minute and Rs 1.20 per 90 seconds, respectively. Earlier, the same amounts offered 3 minutes. The number of free calls is also down from 75 to 30.
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A host of telecom service providers, including Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices, MTNL, BSNL, Essar Hutchison and Bharti Tele-Ventures today announced revised tariffs based on the interconnect charges. The new tariffs will be effective from tomorrow.
Cell users will save substantially, since 50-60 per cent of their calls are incoming. Although most cellular operators are yet to announce new tariffs, there will not be much change on outgoing calls.
Hutch and Airtel subscribers, for instance, will pay the existing airtime, and the interconnect charge, for outgoing calls.
This means that on calling a fixed line a cell phone user will pay the airtime and 50 paise a minute. For calls made to a WLL network, cell users will pay the airtime and 30 paise a minute.
However, this will not increase the phone bill because Rs 1.20 was earlier charged for a three-minute call to a fixed line or a WLL phone.
In fact, subscribers making a 1-minute call to a fixed line or a WLL phone will end up paying less because they have to pay interconnect charges of only 50 paise or 30 paise, instead of Rs 1.20 earlier.
There is much on offer for WLL users as well. Reliance has introduced a new plan with a reduced entry cost of Rs 3,350 and a higher monthly rental of Rs 600.
Reliance, till now, charged Rs 6,350 as entry fee and a monthly rental of Rs 500. Promising to maintain the tariff for three years, Reliance has extended its 40 paise a minute long-distance tariff to all WLL networks for the first 400 minutes every month.
Until now, the tariffs were applicable to calls made within the Reliance network. In comparison, Tata Teleservices has introduced a plan where customers can call anywhere in the country to a WLL or a cell phone at 55 paise a minute for a monthly fee of Rs 999.
Tata's entry cost varies between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,500 and the monthly fee, inclusive of rentals, ranges from Rs 295 to Rs 999.
In terms of call charges, a Reliance-to-cell call will cost Rs 1.20 a minute, while Reliance-to-basic will cost between Re 1 a minute and Rs 4 a minute, depending on the distance. Call charges for a Tata subscriber will vary from 55 paise a minute to Re 1 a minute.
There is also relief on the long-distance front. Reliance has reduced international long-distance rates to Rs 16 a minute for Saarc and neighbouring countries and Rs 18 a minute for other parts of the world.
Other international long-distance operators now charge Rs 24 a minute. BSNL has waived national long-distance charges for intra-circle calls, which means that calls between two cities in a state will be charged at local rates with a 30-second pulse.
For fixed line users, MTNL and BSNL have announced a number of new tariffs plans, giving customers a choice for the first time. MTNL has introduced plans with monthly rentals of Rs 250, Rs 280 and Rs 2,000.
While call rates remain the same at Rs 1.20 for 3 minutes, the pulse rate has been reduced to 2 minutes for calls to fixed lines and 1 minute for calls to cell phones.
Dial-up access for Internet surfing is set to be cheaper with Trai's January 24 order also coming into effect tomorrow.
Trai had stipulated that access charges between 8 pm and 8 am would be at rates less than voice calls.
Telecom bonanza
Cellular
Fixed Line
WLL
Long distance