• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Port Info

• Ships in Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• The Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Thomas K. Thomas

New Delhi , Sept. 26

IN a bid to attract over 10 million Central and State Government employees across the country, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has launched a mobile plan with a monthly rental of Rs 100 specifically for this segment.

BSNL has also waived security deposits and activation charges under the new scheme available to employees of public sector undertakings also.

With a subscriber base of over 10 million users, BSNL is currently the third largest mobile operator in the country after Bharti and Reliance Infocomm.

The new scheme is part of the state-owned company's objective to achieve 20 million cellular subscribers by the end of this fiscal. The new scheme called Plan 100 offers local calls within BSNL's network at Re 1 a minute. Local calls to subscribers of other operator's network will cost Rs 1.80 a minute. Sort messaging within BSNL's network will cost only 50 paise while other SMS will cost Re 1. The Rs 100 rental being offered by BSNL is the cheapest offering from BSNL's stable yet.

Private operators claim to offer zero rental plans but most of these come with hidden charges. The telecom regulator recently issued an order disallowing all such plans, which had a monthly recurring fee despite being called zero rental plan.

BSNL's scheme will be effective from November 1 onwards. BSNL, however, has no agreement with any departments or Ministries for a dedicated subscriber base as part of the scheme. The State-owned company had earlier launched a scheme specifically for students with monthly charges of Rs 150, including caller line identification charges.

Segmented tariff offering is a new mantra for cellular operators. Private operators have launched packages targeted specifically at the youngsters, women and old citizens.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
BSNL eyes Govt staff to expand user base — Offers mobile plan for Rs 100 monthly rental

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line