BSNL, Hutch slash cell tariffs

New Delhi: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), and Hutch yesterday announced reduced tariffs for post-paid users.

"We expect a 35-40 per cent growth in our subscriber base and about a 7 per cent increase in our revenue in 2004-2005, compared with the previous financial year," VP Sinha, chairman and managing director, BSNL, said.

Out of this 7 per cent growth, new subscribers would account for 5 per cent, and the remaining 2 per cent would come from value-added services, he added.

A BSNL pre-paid mobile subscriber can now make a local call to any cellular network at 90 paisa per minute, compared with Rs 0.99 charged by Reliance, Rs 0.99 charged by Hutch and Re 1 charged by AirTel. Likewise, an intra-circle call from cellular to a fixed-line network has been priced at Rs 1.20, compared with Rs 1.79 charged by Reliance and Rs 2.25 charged by Hutch and AirTel.

The call charges in these segments witnessed a reduction in the range of 50-59 per cent.

BSNL has priced cell-to-cell STD calls at Rs 2.00, from the earlier Rs 2.40. Cell to fixed-line long-distance calls have been priced at Rs 2.40, irrespective of distance. The call charges in this segment have been lowered by 33 per cent.