The Hindu Business Line : BSNL to treat two circles in TN as one; launches new schemes

According to its Chief General Manager, Mr K.B. Brahmadathan, subscribers of CellOne, Bharat Sanchar Nigam's mobile phone service, anywhere within Tamil Nadu can call other CellOne users in the State at local call charges and receive calls free.

Effectively, the two circles in the State, Chennai and Tamil Nadu, will be treated as one.

Till now, customers in one circle making a call to someone in the other circle had to pay STD charges. Similarly, they would have paid a charge to receive calls from someone outside their circle.

Also, calls from CellOne mobile to fixed line phones in Chennai or anywhere in Tamil Nadu will be charged at local call rates. This will benefit over 1.18 lakh mobile phone users in the Chennai Circle and 3.4 lakh users in the Tamil Nadu Circle, he said.

CellOne users can soon avail themselves of international roaming. A special SIM card will be available on request in a fortnight.

This service can be used in 160 countries and 270 networks.

Chennai Telephones also announced two low-cost services to attract customers to its fixed line telephone service. Installation will be free up to March 31, a saving of about Rs 700, he said.

One is a Surprise Plan for a monthly rent of Rs 495 and a security deposit of Rs 1,000, with 450 calls free every month.

The other is an Easy Plan with a monthly rent of Rs 250, security deposit Rs 500 and free calls as for the general category.

A line exclusively for receiving calls can be had under the Sulabh Plan, he said.

This will cost Rs 160 a month, and is available to domestic customers. In the last month, over 10,000 lines have been provided, Mr Brahmadathan said.

For Rs 499 a month, BSNL's customers can have an additional line just for accessing the Internet. This facility is available only to retail customers and not to the commercial segment such as Internet cafes.

Cricket scores are just a local call away. CellOne customers need to dial 444 and fixed line customers 1044, and say cricket. An automated facility will give the update.

Indian Oil Corporation will sell BSNL products such as India Telephone Cards, Excel Recharge Coupons, Sancharnet Cards, Webfone cards.

A network of public call facilities will be soon be put up and local, long distance and international calls can be made using the India Telephone Cards.

More Stories on : New Products & Services | Telecommunications | Tamil Nadu

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