The Hindu : National : BSNL slashes ISD rates to Sri Lanka, West Asia

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Wednesday, Sep 13, 2006
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BSNL slashes ISD rates to Sri Lanka, West Asia

Plan to be effective from October 1

New Delhi: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's (BSNL) 5.8-crore telecom service subscribers stand to benefit as the PSU announced a 40 per cent reduction in ISD rates to Sri Lanka and a 20 per cent cut to West Asian countries from next month.

From October 1, a BSNL subscriber would have to pay Rs. 7.20 a minute for a 10-second pulse rate from Rs. 12 a minute, a statement from the company said. The revised rates would apply to all calls from fixed line, mobile, WLL (M) as well as PCOs and trunk calls.

For West Asian countries such as Kuwait, Bahrain, the U.A.E., Oman and Qatar, the rates have been reduced from Rs. 12 a minute to Rs. 9.6 a minute and the pulse rate has been increased from six seconds to 7.5 seconds.

Maximum call traffic

The sector comprising Sri Lanka and West Asian countries has the maximum call traffic from India. The tariffs have been reduced to offer customers a good choice and to be ahead of competition, the company said.

Current rates

Private cellular operators currently offer ISD rates of Rs. 9.99 a minute to West Asia with some operators offering Rs. 8 a minute to the same destination under certain plans. But, none them offer a unified package of same rate for calls from fixed lines, mobile and WLL phones.

Price war likely

BSNL's latest rate-cut is likely to start another round of price war in the ISD segment on this busy traffic route of West Asia where a sizable Indian population stays.

BSNL has about 3.8 crore fixed line subscribers and a little over two crore mobile subscribers. — PTI

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