Bharti ups ante, waives deposits in STD war

In yet another initiative to boost STD calling from mobile phones, Bharti Tele-Ventures has decided to waive 'the STD deposits' for its subscribers. It is also planning a 'zero deposit' for ISD calls.

The two initiatives are expected to result in a substantial jump in STD/ISD calls made from cellular phones.

At present, 38 per cent of mobile to mobile STD calls are generated from the postpaid segment as this access is enabled by default. Only 17 per cent STD calls are activated by customers for STD calls made from mobile to fixed lines.

In case of the pre-paid segment where STD is active, 53 per cent of the STD calls are made from mobile to mobile and the remaining 47 per cent calls are from mobile to fixed landline.

Jayant Khosla, CEO, Bharti Cellular Ltd, Mumbai circle, said: "This will help substitute the landline STD calls through mobile phones, as we want our customers to enjoy STD service from their phones and stay connected for even mobile to fixed line STD calls. In order to facilitate this and encourage landline STD calling from mobile phones we have waived off the STD deposit like we have done for all mobile to mobile STD calls."

The company is also planning to waive off Rs 3,000 deposit on ISD. It has also introduced discounted calling to Gulf countries specially on Fridays at 40 per cent discounted tariffs. ISD calls rates are reduced by Rs 1.75 per minute with effect from February 1, and the service now comes preactivated on for all its postpaid customers.

Khosla pointed out that the "the new initiatives will thus substantially bring down the cost of ownership of an AirTel connection, further driving penetration of mobile telephony amongst new segments of cost conscious customers like women, senior citizens and government servants."