Reliance Infocomm, Hutch to revise GPRS tariff

Major cellular service providers are keen on providing a range of applications as well as revising tarriff structure in the general packet radio service (GPRS) segment.

The price GRPS-enabled handsets has been constantly falling and the number of cellular subscribers using the facility has been increasing rapidly.

While Reliance India Mobile's R-World application suite becomes a paid feature from April 1, Hutch, the leading cellular service provider in the state, has also revised its GPRS tariff structure.

R World, the mobile data application suite on Reliance India Mobile, will be charged from April 1. R World is now available to a majority of RIM subscribers and gets over 125 crore page views every month.

R World tariff structure will range from Rs two to Rs 25 and applications have been classified into four categories, namely, membership, pay-on-entry, pay-on-use, and free. Specially designed icons will denote the type of charges associated with each application every time a subscriber visits R World.

Membership category with an option of monthly membership or a day pass comprises frequently used applications. Monthly membership is Rs 25, whereas a day pass is available for Rs three. Sixty five applications have been grouped under this category.

"All our handsets that are currently being sold in the country are GPRS-enabled. With GPRS becoming popular, the number of users is rising rapidly. The number of applications and the possibilities in this segment are expanding," said Anuj Kapoor, general manager, marketing, Samsung India.

He added that Samsung accounted for half of the 15 million handsets sold in the country in 2004. The prices of most GPRS-enabled handsets have been steadily falling over the last two years.

"We have devised tariff plans that are very easy to understand and offer tremendous value proposition to our customers. For the first time in the world, we have introduced a unique day pass plan that offers significant flexibility in usage. We believe that the rates being offered are the most competitive in the country," said Mahesh Prasad, president, applications and solutions group, Reliance Info. He ruled out any reduction in the number of hits on R World after it becomes a paid service.