Tata Tele Snips Wll Std Rates To Rs 1.90

Tata Teleservices today dropped its wireless in local loop (WLL-to-WLL) STD tariffs to Rs 1.90 a minute for calls above 500 km. This is a huge 129 per cent lower than the existing rates of Rs 4.80 a minute being offered by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. A WLL-to-cell call will also cost Rs 1.90 a minute.

The move comes after cellular operators, Airtel and Hutch dropped cell-to-cell STD tariffs to Rs 1.99 a minute.

Tata Teleservices had announced a set of tariffs for its subscribers on April 30, as per which STD was offered for as low as 55 paise a minute for the first 400 minutes.

 

The telecom regulator, however, objected to the tariffs and asked the company to roll back the plan.

While discussion on the tariffs are still going on, the new tariffs announced today will be applicable if Trai rejects the earlier proposal. In that case it would amount to an increase in STD tariffs.

If Trai gives the go-ahead, the STD tariffs announced today will be effective for subscribers using more than 400 minutes per month.

As per the new tariffs announced by Tata Tele today, STD calls between WLL and fixed line phones will cost Rs 4 a minute compared with Rs 4.80 a minute being offered by BSNL for calls above 500 km.

For fixed-to-fixed STD calls, Tata Tele has kept the tariff at Rs 4.80 a minute. Fixed-line users can, however, make an STD call to a cell phone or a WLL phone at Rs 3.60 a minute.

Tata Teleservices has introduced five distance slabs for all its STD plans. The company also has introduced separate plans for inter-circle and intra-circle STD calls.

For instance a WLL-to-fixed STD call between 200 km and 500 km costs Rs 3 a minute if it is inter-circle and Rs 2.40 if it is an intra-circle call.