MTNL, BSNL effect: Airtel to alter broadband rates

Airtel Broadband and Telephone Services (ABTS) is planning a rate revision in the next one week for its broadband internet services following aggressive pricing announcements by the government owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL).

"We would come out with a price revision based on whether the competition will offer all the features that it has promised and offer good service. Most players will go in for price cuts to either match or better their costs," said Deepak Pande, COO, ABTS at the launch of 'Service Guarantee'- a customer service initiative, in the city today.

A price war is likely among players like Sify, Tata Indicom and ABTS who offer broadband services which cost more than BSNL's Data One and MTNL's Triband which charge Rs 500 and Rs 399 per month respectively for a 256 kbps connection.

A further price war is expected once Reliance enters the market with its broadband services.

The launch of ABTS' 'Service Guarantee' in Tamil Nadu on Januray 19 will be followed by launches in Karnataka on January 20 and Madhya Pradesh on January 21.

The initiative will guarantee repair of dead phones within four business hours and error-free billing on monthly telephone bills. The company will credit Rs 100 to telephone bills of those customers who are not delivered the promise of the service guarantee.

"The roll-out is a result of many quality initiatives across processes including six sigma. We have worked hard in the past two years to eliminate process errors," added Pande.

He forecast that there might be a boom in fixed line market following an increase in commercial activity among big corporations, SMEs and a rise in residential construction activity.

ABTS at present has a fixed line subscriber base of 2 lakh customers in Chennai and is planning on rolling out its services to other cities in Tamil Nadu.