HEADLINES
JOBS
COM:PORT
POLICY POLICE
ARCHIVES

First pre-paid cellular SIM card lunched

The SkyCell Cellcard offers benefits such as no security deposits, no monthly rentals, no monthly bills, no SIM card charges, instant access to local/STD/ISD calls, no customer obligations and no peak/off-peak tariff rates.

Airtime on the Cellcard is charged at Rs 4.20 a minute on Sundays and national holidays and at Rs 8.40 per minute on working days. DoT rates will be charged as applicable.

The Cellcard is compatible only with the new generation GSM Phase II handsets. Diwakar Singh, managing director, SCL, told reporters the Cellcard is targeted at the budget-conscious, untapped corporate sector, travelling businessmen and young professionals entering the workplace.

The technology developed by CG Schlumberger, at a cost of about Rs 1 million - about a twentieth of the price abroad - allows subscribers to see their call charges being metered on the display panel of their handsets.

Cellcard is currently available in denominations of Rs 2,500, a figure arrived at after market surveys, of pre-paid talk-time.

Another major benefit of the card is that it can be recharged in multiples of Rs 500, depending on the subscriber's usage pattern.

SkyCell has six recharging centres in Madras and plans to add another six soon.

To make it easily available, SkyCell has also launched for the first time in the country, an instant cellular phone kit, comprising a Nokia 1610 handset and a pre-paid Cellcard for the price of Rs 14,000. This kit can be picked up off the shelf from most major stores in the city.

According to Singh, when this plan was first introduced in Sri Lanka two months ago, it attracted about 3,000 to 4,000 subscribers per month. Now the figure has jumped to 200 subscribers a day. Based on this experience, he expects a promising response from the Indian market - about 1,500 to 2,000 subscribers per month initially.

Recognising distribution as the key to success, he said SkyCell has spent Rs 6 million on marketing and distribution so far.

- Compiled from the Indian media

Tell us what you think of this story