Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Reliance Infocomm unveils Re. 1 call

N. Ravi Kumar

BSNL tariff cut may stem the tide of landline surrenders

CHENNAI: For telecom subscribers, the ring of new schemes that grew shrill last fortnight, with the launch of lifetime validity pre-paid cards and slashing of BSNL landline tariff, continued into the new year with Reliance Infocomm on Sunday unveiling a Re. 1 call across India in select plans.

The last fortnight of 2005 saw competition in the pre-paid mobile segment heating up with Airtel, BSNL and Aircel vying with one another in introducing lifetime validity cards at competitive entry-level charges.

But it was integrated service provider BSNL, which took the cake, announcing a 28 per cent cut in the landline tariff on Friday. Besides bringing cheer to the average user, the reduction in tariff to Rs. 180 (it was Rs. 250 for urban subscribers and Rs. 210 for rural ones) is likely to stem the tide of landline surrenders.

Shrink in subscribe base

Chennai Telephones alone had seen its landline subscriber base shrink by 1.50 lakh in the last couple of years, forcing it to offer packages bundling basic telephone, mobile and broadband.

However, some changes such as the new pre-paid tariff of Chennai Telephones prescribing different charges for (local) calls made to its network and to others have left a section of the subscribers unhappy.

Under the new structure that came into effect on Sunday, local calls from pre-paid to landline, mobile and WLL phones cost 90 paise a minute, while those to other operators are charged at Rs. 1.20. Earlier, all mobile calls (to numbers beginning with 9) were charged at 90 paise and the rest at Rs. 1.20.

"Boon" for middle class

The reduction will benefit the middle class the most, says T. Sadagopan, chief coordinator of Tiruvallur District Consumer Information Centre. However, he opposes the increase in the cost of calls to other mobiles. He also complains that the subscribers were not informed about the change. It is not enough if such details are put on the web site.

A senior official of Chennai Telephones, however, says the change also translates into a 30 paise reduction in the cost of calls to BSNL landlines, which are huge in number.

For most subscribers of other mobile companies, who wanted to make calls or send text messages, the new year meant battling it out with congested networks.

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