BSNL lowers charges

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) today announced discounts on basic and cellular services, including lowering the registration charges on a basic telephone to Re 1 from the existing Rs 1,000.

"We feel that this move will attract more basic subscribers and enable the company to retain existing subscribers," said BSNL chairman and managing director A K Sinha.

The discounts, which have been announced as a festive offer, are valid for a limited period of 23-70 days from October 22 to December 31. Basic subscribers will gain most as installation charges of Rs 500 have been waived.

For the cellular segment, BSNL announced huge discounts on pre-paid recharge coupons, wherein a subscriber would get four recharge coupons at a cost of three.

For post-paid connections, activation charges have been waived, Sinha said. The state-owned telecom service provider also announced a reduction in access rates by upto 60 per cent besides lowering the rental for ISDN BRA (basic access rate) lines to Rs 400 a month and for an ISDN PRI (primary access interface) connection to Rs 1,750 a month from the existing Rs 5,000.

The BRA line carries data at 256 kbps, whereas the PRI line carries data at 256 kbps to 2 mbps.

The subscribers paying their bills regularly will get free India Telecom Cards (ITC) of denominations ranging between Rs 200-Rs 2,000, depending on their bills.