Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

CellOne may set off rate war

Thomas K Thomas in New Delhi

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, which launched its cellular service CellOne on Saturday, is all set to start a tariff war in the non-metro market by pegging its minimum monthly rental at Rs 225, 25 per cent less than what other operators charge.

Earlier in the day, the standoff between the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and BSNL ended with the regulator giving its go-ahead to CellOne, subject to BSNL submitting additional data on its tariff proposals.

CellOne subscribers will also have to pay a maximum of Rs 2 per minute for an outgoing call and less than Re 1 per minute for an incoming call, depending on the package.

On average, existing operators offer Rs 2 a minute for both an incoming and an outgoing call.

BSNL is planning to roll out 4 million cellular lines across the country in the next one year across 1,000 cities.

By March 2003, almost all the areas under the BSNL jurisdiction are expected to be covered, except in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast where security clearance has been received only recently.

BSNL officials had earlier said they would launch CellOne, irrespective of whether Trai gave its approval or not.

They said in the light of the stay order from the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal, it was clear that BSNL could go ahead with the launch.

BSNL had earlier protested against the Trai order of September 6, which made it mandatory for the firm to seek an approval of cellular tariffs, even as other cellular operators were allowed to launch tariff packages without a Trai approval.

Trai had said the objective of asking BSNL to seek an approval was to keep a check on any possible cross-subsidisation between various telecommunications services of the company.

BSNL approached the tribunal against the Trai order, following which the tribunal had ordered a stay.

Powered by

ALSO READ:
More Money Headlines