NEW DELHI: Aiming to attract more subscribers and give a tough competition to its rivals in the New Year, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) is launching a variety of interesting schemes for both landline and mobile subscribers.

New charge

Starting January 1, all local calls from MTNL landline to MTNL mobile -- both pre-paid (Trump) and post-paid (Dolphin) -- will be reduced sharply. As against the present charge of Rs.1.20 per minute, the new charge will be Rs.1.20 for three minutes. So effectively only 40 paise will be charged for one minute and people will be able to talk more by paying less.

With more than 27-lakh subscribers of both landline and mobile services in Delhi, MTNL has also decided to reduce its STD charges. STD call charges for all landline subscribers will be reduced by 20 per cent, with MTNL increasing the pulse rate from 30 seconds to 36 seconds. Similarly, for MTNL mobile subscribers -- both post-paid and pre-paid -- STD charges will be reduced from Rs.2.40 per minute to Rs.1.75 per minute, a 27 per cent decrease in call charges.

"As usage of phones has increased, reducing tariff will only boost revenue generation," said MTNL (Delhi) Executive Director A. K. Arora. MTNL would do aggressive marketing of its products in 2007 and also upgrade its technology, introduce new schemes and offer more value-added products to stay ahead from its competitors, he added.

For its lifelong post-paid Jeevan Saathi scheme where no monthly rental is charged, MTNL has also decided to reduce one-time payment of Rs.800 to Rs.400.

Here a subscriber will have to use Rs.100 talk-time in six months. The scheme will remain open from January 1 to 25.

"Even the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has appreciated the lifetime scheme. Out of MTNL's 11-lakh mobile subscribers, around 3-lakh have opted for this scheme," he added.

MTNL has also decided to make the booking of its landline and broadband services more attractive. From January 1 to March 31, those booking new landline connections in Plan 250 and above will get the connection almost free.

"We have decided to waive off the Rs.500 installation fee and also not charge the first month's rental. We will also not take the Rs.1,000 local security deposit. However, the security deposit for STD and ISD will remain unchanged. An applicant just needs to pay Rs.500 that will be refunded in his future bills," Mr. Arora added.

Mr. Arora further said that the OneIndia plan for mobile subscribers had also been made more economical.

"For post-paid subscribers, the monthly charge has been reduced from Rs.299 to Rs.180, while the call charge to MTNL's own cellular network has been made Re.1 for three minutes against 40 paise per minute," he added.

Subscribers

Similarly for pre-paid subscribers, the talk value of a Rs.799 recharge card has been increased from Rs.500 to Rs.799, while the call charge to MTNL's own cellular network has been made Re.1 per three minute instead of 60 paise per minute.

A new OneIndia Rs.199 pre-paid recharge card has been launched with 30-days validity, he added.

However, MTNL has not announced any bonanza for its landline subscribers using the OneIndia plan, offered by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limted (BSNL) well as MTNL with identical monthly rental. While BSNL had recently doubled the number of free calls from 25 to 50, MTNL gives no free calls whatsoever to its OneIndia plan subscribers.

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