Airtel, Hutch Slash Std Rates By 60%

Cell-to-fixed long-distance tariff down 41%

Bharti and Essar-Hutchison today took the price war to the streets by slashing cell-to-cell STD tariff by 60 per cent to Rs 1.99 a minute and cell-to-fixed line STD tariff by 41 per cent to Rs 3.99 a minute. Cell-to-WLL calls will also cost only Rs 2.99 a minute now if made within 500 km radius.

At present, mobile subscribers pay nearly Rs 6.79 per minute for making STD call to a fixed/WLL phone and up to Rs 4.98 per minute for cell-to-cell STD calls. The ISD tariff too has been dropped to Rs 15.99 a minute from Rs 24 earlier. Reliance had also announced an ISD tariff of Rs 16 a minute last week.

The new tariffs make STD calls on a cellular phone cheaper than those on a fixed line as BSNL is offering STD rates of Rs 4.80 a minute.

While Hutch has announced that the new tariffs will be applicable from today to all it Delhi subscribers, Bharti's offer is only for new subscribers across its 16 circles. This will be extended to other subscribers as well shortly.

Local outgoing calls to fixed line and WLL phones have also been slashed by nearly 20 per cent. Cell-to-cell local calls range between 40 paise a minute and Rs 1.75 depending on the monthly rental. The current charges are 50 paise to Rs 1.99.

Calls to fixed and WLL phones have also dropped by nearly 40 per cent to 60 paise a minute and Rs 1.99. The the monthly rental slabs of Rs 349, Rs 599, Rs 999 and Rs 1,699 have, however, not been changed though the 1,700 free calls offered to high users have been dropped.

For pre-card users, outgoing cell-to-cell calls will cost Rs 2.40 per minute and calls to fixed line or WLL phone Rs 2.80 a minute. Cell-to-cell STD calls for a pre-paid card user will cost Rs 2.99 a minute.

The tariffs are subject to the approval of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India which had earlier objected when cellular operators, including Essar-Hutch and Bharti Cellular, dropped the STD airtime to 50 paise a minute.

RPG Cellular, Escotel, BPL Mobile and Spice Telecom had dropped STD tariffs to Rs 4.50 a minute earlier this week.

WLL operators like Reliance and Tata Teleservices had also announced a tariff of 40 paise a minute and 55 paise a minute, respectively for WLL-to-WLL STD calls. However, these tariffs have been held back by the Trai.