Initiating a fresh round of price war, Bharti, offering telecom services under the AirTel brand, on Thursday reduced long distance mobile tariffs by upto Rs 1.75 per minute for ISD and 35 paise for STD calls.
The company lowered the rates following Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's new levy regime, which reduced the access deficit charge paid by private operators to PSUs.
The new rates will come into effect from February 1, the company said in a statement in New Delhi. More than one crore (10 million) Airtel customers would benefit from the cut.
The tariffs announced are radically lower than the existing rates and hence would further drive penetration of mobile telephony in the country.
ISD tariffs have been reduced by Rs 1.75/min and STD tariffs have been reduced by Rs 0.35/min on the current tariffs based on simple average ADC reduction of Rs 0.20/- for calls between 50- 200 kms and Rs 0.50 /min for calls >200 kms.
Announcing the new tariffs, Manoj Kohli, president (mobility), Bharti Tele-Ventures, said, "Airtel has once again taken the lead in announcing reduction in mobile tariffs for its customers across the country. The benefits extended are in keeping with our commitment to pass on the benefits of reduction in ADC, directly to our customers.
"The tariffs announced are simple, innovative and provide the best value for money to our customers. This we believe will fuel new acquisitions and also spur usage increase. What's more, Airtel customers will continue to enjoy special Airtel to Airtel STD Tariffs at Rs 2/- min."
Bharti Tele-Ventures is one of India's leading private sector provider of tele-communications services with an aggregate of 10.63 million customers as of end of December '04, consisting of approximately 9.83 million mobile customers.
The company today offers mobile services in 21 out of 23 circles in India. The company also provides fixed - line services and Internet access over DSL in 6 circles.
The company also has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore.
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