Bharti Is Ready To Offer Cheap Ild Services

Bharti Tele-Ventures on Monday said it is ready to offer international long distance (ILD) telephone services at lower rates from April, if the company gets a licence from the government.

The development assumes significance as Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), in which the Tatas picked up 25 per cent, will end its monopoly in the Rs 8,000 crore ILD business by March 31.

The government has already announced that VSNL would slash ISD tariff by May 2002. The current ISD rate for Saarc and neighbouring countries ranges from Rs 21-25 a minute, while for countries in Europe, Asia, Gulf and the Oceania region, it ranges from Rs 34 to Rs 40 per minute.

"We are ready to offer ILD service at lower rates as we have already completed the implementation of submarine and other infrastructure facilities," Sunil Mittal, chairman said on Monday.

Bharti is putting in place a submarine cable landing station in Chennai through which the company will offer international bandwidth access for international long distance services. Bharti also plans to provide international voice services once the market is opened for private participation.

For constructing the landing station, Bharti has already floated a subsidiary called Bharti Aquanet. Bharti Aquanet will be a 51:49 subsidiary between Bharti Telesonic, a subsidiary of Bharti Tele-Ventures floated for the purpose of national long distance business, and SingTel i2i.

With this, Bharti Tele-Ventures, one of the leading integrated telecom companies in India, would become the first firm to offer ILD services after the deregulation, analysts said. BPL and the Reliance group, major telecom players, are also likely to enter the ILD market.

In fact, the telecom industry has been waiting for a price war from Bharti Tele-Ventures in the ILD business. Bharti, the first private telecom operator to begin national long distance telecom services, has already slashed its prices.