F licking open a cellphone may no longer imply a rarified setting. Thanks to the post-budget scenario and the subsequent reduction in prices of handsets, a large chunk of wannahaves down the rungs may find it within reach. (See table 'The handsets'). According to Dinesh Thakur, spokesperson for AirTel, The reduction in taxes post-budget '96 have led to a reduction of almost 30 percent on the handsets. Newer brands have hit the market which have lesser features and are therefore less costly. And this has helped in bringing the middle-income group within our target segment now. However, the downside is the hike in service charges.
As the demand grows, it is obvious that service charges will grow too, adds Thakur bluntly, underlining the fact that while subscribers may find they are being wooed fervently, service providers are set on their pound of flesh as well. So you have AirTel and Essar Cellphone, the two contenders in the cellphone market in Delhi, engaged in constant attempts at being one-up.(see 'The schemes').
Essar Cellphone seems to have taken the lead at the outset by offering handsets at knocked down prices ranging from a savings of Rs 2,600 for a Nokia 1610 (post-budget price Rs 19,900) to Rs 9,000 on Ericsson's GH 218 model with a car charger (post-budget price Rs 17,900).
The prices of at least six models of handsets have been revised by Essar Cellphone from a range of makes that includes Nokia, Ericsson and Sony while the prices of Motorola and Siemens models remain unchanged with them. AirTel, on the other hand, has discontinued with three handsets (two from Motorola and one from Nokia) but has added the Nokia 1610, Siemens S3 COM and Ericsson's 318 and 388 to its list.
Ericsson's newest model 388 which is also sold by Essar Cellphone, is considered to be the most advanced with an 80 hours standby, four-and-a-half hours talk time, enhanced phone memory, faster data/fax capability. It also features a time manager and a calculator and is said to be the smallest cellphone in the market currently. While AirTel is selling it for Rs 35,300, Essar Cellphone is offering the same at Rs 33,900.
In fact, the cheapest set at Essar is for Rs 9,000 (Motorola 3300) and the most expensive costs Rs 37,900 (Sony CM DX 1000). AirTel's range of handsets varies from Rs 18,990(Ericsson GA 318) upwards to Rs 36,500 (Ericsson GH 218).
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The peak hours when airtime is double the standard charge is currently from 12 pm to 2 pm and 5 pm to 7 pm. The charges for this are Rs 16 per minute for outgoing calls with incoming calls at 60 per cent of this at Rs 9.60 per minute. Off-peak hours for AirTel is between 10 pm to 6 am and for Essar all Sundays and national holidays, when charges are halved to Rs 4 per minute for outgoing calls and Rs 2.40 per minute for incoming calls. Monthly rental is Rs 156, service tax on airtime is 6 per cent and tax on SIM card is 5 per cent of its cost, common to both providers.
Apart from their respective packages on offer, both the companies have been organising free service camps and upgrading specific handsets with new software in tandem with both Nokia and Ericsson.