Tamil Nadu - Others   

Wooing more phone users to mobile service

S. Sundar

MADURAI: Mobile phones will help you cut down your telephone bills!

This is what the latest campaign of a private mobile operator, Airtel, is, which aims to "educate" telephone-users on realising maximum benefits from their monthly bills.

Of course, the attempt is to woo more landline users to mobile service for voice communication.

"Let the landline phones serve purposes other than voice communication," says its Chief Executive Officer, Chennai and Tamil Nadu, P. Swaminathan.

The reasons are simple: Mobile phone connections have outnumbered landline connections.

The rate for each unit of call made from mobile phone is cheaper than a landline call.

The calling pattern has changed after the Union Ministry of Communications merged the Chennai Telecom Circle with Tamil Nadu Circle in May this year.

"The traffic between the two circles has seen a phenomenal growth of nearly four times in the last three months," he says.

Around 60 per cent of the calls are made to mobile phones these days, thanks to its higher subscriber base (26 per cent more than the total number of landlines).

Besides, people find it is easier to contact a person on his mobile phone than on the landline.

Making a comparison of Airtel's "Talk More to Mobile" plan with the tariff of landline phone, he says the average call charges for one minute from mobile phone is Rs. 0.93 while the same is Rs. 1.92 from landline.

Similarly, the average call for 2 and 3 minutes from a mobile phone is Rs. 1.86 and Rs. 2.79 respectively, while it is Rs. 2.64 and Rs. 2.96 respectively from landline.

(The calculation is based on the calling pattern — 60 per cent of calls to mobile phones and 40 per cent to landlines) and the rates are: mobile to mobile, Rs. 0.75 per minute; mobile to landline — Rs. 1.20 per minute; landline to mobile — Rs. 1.20 for every 45 seconds and landline to landline - 120 for 3 minutes.

Only 30 per cent of the country's geographical areas have so far been covered by telecommunication facility. With economical feasibility supporting mobile phone services, cell phone is bound to face a phenomenal growth in the days to come, says Mr. Swaminathan.

With a slogan for "more value for money than landlines," Airtel proposes to bring more subscribers to its fold. It has commissioned its sixth switch in Madurai recently.

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