Corporates, villages may not dial in

Corporate and retail offices, whose business demands heavy local call volumes, will not dial into the much-hyped "OneIndia" plan.

Customers at the other end of the spectrum "" those in rural India "" also do not have much to cheer, as they will have to increase their current rentals to six times to avail of this scheme.

In case of BSNL, a heavy local call user, who currently pays a rental of Rs 2,450 under the BSNL premium plan, is offered 3500 free local calls per month. Tariff for calls beyond this limit, is 80 paise per call, which is less than the Re 1 offered under OneIndia. If the same user were to migrate to the OneIndia Plan, his phone bill would be 55 per cent higher, as charges would add up to Rs 3799 ( 299 + 3500).

This also applies to BSNL's "Super" Plan, which comes with a rental of Rs 1,450, but allows 1,800 free calls and charges 90 paise for subsequent calls, and the "Special Plus" Plan, where the rental is Rs 975 with 1,100 free calls and Re 1 for subsequent calls.

Additionally, it is not just corporate houses and offices, but even residential subscribers who mostly make local calls are better off under their existing tariff plans.

The BSNL 'special' plan for urban residential subscribers, which comes with rentals of Rs 375, Rs 425 and Rs 475 comes packaged with 400, 450, and 500 free calls, respectively. Users of these plans, who shift to OneIndia, will see up to 100 per cent increase in their monthly bills.

For MTNL users, under Plan 500 (which provides 450 free calls at a rental charge of Rs 500), it does not make sense to move to the new offering.