M A I N   N E W S

3G launched with .66 paise /sec call
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 9
Having become the first telecom operator in the country to launch 3G services last week, Tata Teleservices, which has DoCoMo of Japan as its partner, today announcing the call tariff for the services at 0.66 paise per second.

The pulse rate would be ‘per second’ and subscribers would be charged only for the number of seconds used. With nearly 80 million subscribers, both in mobile and landline segments, the company is pinning hopes of generating revenues on 3G mobile as well as data services in the designated circles.

The rates will put pressure on all the operators to follow ‘per second’ pulse. Other private operators like Bharti and Vodafone are also likely to start 3G services in the next few months.

The company announced different tariff plans for both post-paid and pre-paid 3G mobile services ranging from Rs 350 to Rs 2,000, which include monthly minutes as well as data usage.

In a monthly tariff package of Rs 2,000, the subscriber would get 5,000 minutes voice calls, along with data usage of up to 2GB per month.

The company became the first telecom operator in the country to launch its 3G services this Diwali. It announced the start of service in nine circles - Karnataka, Kerala, rest of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab , Haryana, Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh (West).

For 3G data services on large screens like computers and laptops, the company has announced a package of Rs 2,000 for 15 GB of data usage at 21.1 Mbps. However, usage beyond 15 GB would be free, but at a speed of 256 Kbps.