New Delhi, February 10
In a major bonanza to subscribers, telecom PSUs, BSNL and MTNL, today launched “OneIndia” plan charging maximum tariff of Re 1 for a call to any place in the country.

The BSNL Chairman, Mr A.K. Sinha, and MTNL’s chief, Mr R.S.P Sinha, unveiled the plan at a joint press conference here, saying the new rates would be effective from March 1.

The new plan takes away the distinction between the fixed line and the mobile tariff and makes the call rates “technology independent.”

They also reduced local call rates to Re 1 for a three-minute call. But this comes with an increase in rental of Rs 49 to Rs 299 per month from the existing Rs 250.

The CMDs of both BSNL and MTNL said all existing tariff plans would continue to be in operation, including the lower rentals scheme in the rural areas, and ‘OneIndia’ tariff plan would be optional.

“The Re 1 a minute STD tariff should be able to check the surrender of fixed phones of the PSUs which happened on a large-scale last year due to surge in mobile usage. Now mobile and landline tariffs are same in this plan. This will plug-in the surrenders,” Union Communication Minister Dayanidhi Maran said here.

Under the new tariff package for BSNL’s landline users, the local call charges will be Re 1 for a three- minute call within BSNL network (earlier Rs 1.20 for three minutes), while calls to other networks, both landline and mobile will be Re 1 per minute within a state (intra-circle). This was earlier Rs 1.20 a minute.

All other calls made from landline or mobile phones anywhere in the country would be charged at the rate of Re 1 a minute, which was earlier approximately Rs 2.40 a minute, BSNL Chairman A K Sinha told reporters.

Ruling out any loss in revenues, both state-owned telecom companies, who dominate the telecom market in the country, said the new announcement would spell a boom for per-minute calls. The increase in volumes as well as new subscribers would help rake in profits with a large number of people, especially in the huge rural market, taking to phones with gusto.

They said that there would be “absolutely” no loss of revenue as traffic was expected to grow by over 30 per cent to compensate any national loss, if any.

BSNL had been opposing the “OneIndia” plan ever since Maran announced it saying BSNL would end up losing close to Rs 4,000 crore annually, affecting its rural telephony expansion severely.

For MTNL landline users, who were previously paying Rs 1.90 a minute for a Delhi-Mumbai STD call will now pay Re 1 a minute for the same call to any network along with Rs 299 monthly rental.

The same charges of Re 1 a minute applies even to calls within the state (intra-circle) which was earlier Rs 1.20 a minute. Local calls to landline phones will be Re 1 for three minutes (earlier Rs 1.20 for three minutes). For its post-paid mobile services, BSNL has proposed a rental of Rs 299 and the calls to other BSNL subscribers would be at the rate of 40 paise a minute within the state (intra-circle). Calls to any other network across the country (STD) would attract a tariff of Re 1 a minute, he said.

The BSNL pre-paid subscribers, on the other hand are being offered a package of Rs 799 which would include a talk time of Rs 550 for a validity period of 30 days. Under the package, calls made to BSNL subscribers would be at the rate of 60 paise a minute while for other networks it would be at the rate of Re 1 a minute. For MTNL cellular subscribers, the charges are reduced by 60 per cent for STD calls with a Re 1 minute tariff to MTNL as well as any other network.