Tatas introduce mobile phone, trigger tariff war

Triggering a tariff war from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Tata Indicom introduced a "no bill" mobile-like wireless fixed phone (WFP) at Rs 1,650. The company, which claims to have created a 200,000 subscriber base in just 11 months of its operations in both the states, has also reduced tariffs for its Walky fixed wireless phones.

Tata Indicom said its 5 paise per second pulse mobile phone with lifetime incoming call facility without frills and hidden cost had widened its presence in the market. With the new products the company is expecting a subscriber base of 300,000 with investment touching Rs 500 crore by March in both the states.

The portable phone has been given the name 'Indicom 10' with a 10-digit number. Targeted for subscribers in small towns and semi urban areas, the new phone comes with in-built facilities like SMS, speakerphone, caller ID, address book and polyphonic ring tones.

"For an 'Indicom 10' subscriber a local call will cost 60 paise per minute, and intra-state call (within Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh) will cost 90 paise per minute (BSNL Rs 1.20 per minute) and an STD (subscriber trunk dialing) call will be Rs 1.80 per minute (BSNL 2.40 per minute) with recharge voucher facilities to control the phone bills," said Jagrut Vyas, chief operating officer, Tata Indicom (MP and Chhattisgarh).

"With this phone a subscriber does not have to dial 95 or 0 in the way necessary in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and other private operator phones."

Indicom 10 calls are 43 per cent more economical intra-circle to mobiles, 25 per cent more economical when calls are to landline phones and 25 per cent more economical on STD.

The company also reduced its tariffs for its existing Walky (WFP) phones to mobile and fixed phones in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. A Walky subscriber will have to pay Rs 1.20 for a 180-second mobile phone call, unlike that of other fixed phone subscribers, who have to stump up Rs 1.20 for 45 seconds.

"Under the Rs 249 plan, a Walky subscriber will get free calls of Rs 100 with a 180-second pulse rate to make a call to any mobile phone," said Vyas.