Hello! The good times are rolling for telecom users in India. You can now talk, talk and talk. . . without worrying about huge, shocking bills. For the first time, you can call any landline or mobile number anywhere in India for just Re 1 a minute.
The much-awaited OneIndia plan is all set to become a hit as more and more customers queue up to take advantage of the Re 1/min calls.
Currently, the STD (standard trunk dialling) rates are charged at Rs 2.40/min anywhere in India. "We have received a good response for OneIndia. We are getting about 30 to 50 applications everyday from Borivili alone," says S A Ghadigaonkar, sub-divisional engineer, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.
So how do you avail of this facility? All you need to do is get a new MTNL/BSNL phone (landline or mobile) connection.
If you already have a connection, you can shift by giving an application form at your nearest MTNL/BSNL centre. It takes just two days to shift to a new plan, MTNL officials say. If you already have an STD connection on your phone, you still need to fill up a form and submit at your nearest MTNL/BSNL office.
Advantages of OneIndia
There is no charge shift to a new tariff plan. You need to pay a deposit of Rs 1,000 if your phone does not have an STD facility now. However, if you have a phone with STD at present, you need not pay any deposit.
- You can makes calls to fixed/WLL/mobile (own network) at Re 1 for 180 seconds.
- You can call any other mobile number at Re 1 for 60 seconds.
- You can call any STD number (landline or mobile) at Re 1 for 60 seconds.
- ISD (international call) rates have been slashed to as low as Rs 6 per minute for calls to the United States and the United Kingdom.
A peek into the OneIndia tariff
OneIndia tariff for landline service:|
Particulars |
Pulse in seconds |
One India Tariff |
|
Fixed Monthly Charges |
|
Rs 299 |
|
Free Calls |
|
NIL |
|
Local Call Charges: | ||
| To Fixed/WLL/Mobile (own network) |
180 |
Re 1.00 per pulse |
|
To all other Calls |
60 |
Re 1.00 per min |
|
STD Call Charges | ||
|
Intra Circle Calls upto 50 KMs: | ||
|
To fixed/WLL(F)/(BSNL network) |
180 |
Re 1.00 per pulse |
|
All Other Calls |
60 |
Re 1.00 per min |
|
Intra Circle Calls to Fixed/WLL/Cellular |
60 |
Re 1.00 per min |
|
ISD Call Charges | ||
| UK, US, Canada |
10 |
Rs 6.00 per min |
|
Europe (other than UK), Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong |
7.5 |
Rs 8.00 per min |
|
Rest of world |
6 |
Rs 10.00 per min |
Disadvantages of OneIndia
- The rent will be hiked to Rs 299, irrespective of what rent you are paying now.
- There will be no free calls in this plan.
- A hike in the monthly rental is more than double the rental in some of the existing plans.
- Across the various plans, rents are quite low, and it is complemented with free calls depending on the plans that you have opted for. For instance, when you opt for a plan of Rs 500 you get 450 free calls.
- The charges on OneIndia will be applicable around the clock, there will be no off peak-hour discounts.
- There will be no discounts irrespective of the usage.
A comparison of all the tariff plans
| Landline service | |||||||||
| Plan 160 |
Plan Economy |
Plan 290 |
Plan 500 |
Plan 1000 |
Plan 1500 |
Plan 2000 |
OneIndia | ||
| Monthly Rental |
160 |
250 |
Nil |
Nil |
Nil |
Nil |
Nil |
299 | |
| Assured Usage |
Nil |
Nil |
289 |
499 |
999 |
1499 |
1999 |
299 | |
| Free calls |
Nil |
60 calls |
150 |
450 |
1000 |
1750 |
2350 |
Nil | |
| Pulse rate | |||||||||
| Local (from landline) | |||||||||
| To landline | 180 seconds | Pulse rate for local calls To fixed/WLL/Mobile (own network) - 180 secs All other calls: 60 secs | |||||||
| To Cellular | 90 seconds | ||||||||
|
To MTNL landline |
300 seconds | ||||||||
| Pulse rate in seconds (for less than 50 km from landline) | |||||||||
| To landline | 120 seconds |
BSNL Fixed & WLL | |||||||
| To WLL Mobile | 60 seconds | ||||||||
| STD (from landline) | |||||||||
|
>50 - 100 kms |
60 seconds | 60 secs | |||||||
|
>100 kms |
30 seconds | ||||||||
|
Calls to Delhi |
37.8 seconds | ||||||||
|
Call charges |
Rs 1.20 for |
61-300 calls (Re 0.80) |
Rs1.20 |
Rs1.10 |
Re1.00 |
Re0.90 |
Re0.85 |
Re 1.00 | |
| Registration Charge | Local-Rs 500 (to be converted into installation charge) | ||||||||
| Security Deposit |
Local/STD-Rs 1000 will be collected in two equal installments ISD-Rs 3000 secuity deposit to be collected in 6 equal installments | ||||||||
OneIndia not for STD booths
The OneIndia plan is also not applicable to STD booths.
The OneIndia plan is not applicable to MTNL phone cards, which most people who have a phone without STD facility use at present.
So it would be a good idea to switch to OneIndia plan if you spend make more STD calls in a month than local calls.
Hope OneIndia lasts and lasts and free calls in the plan are most welcome, say customers who have applied for OneIndia tariff.
Table: Source MTNL
