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Our Bureau

New Delhi May 12 Heating up the competition in the international long distance telephony segment, Reliance Communication has dropped tariffs for calling the US and Canada to Rs 1.99 a minute on its global calling card. However, subscribers will have to purchase the calling card worth Rs 1,900 to avail themselves of the low tariffs.

Reliance Global Calling cards are also available in denominations of Rs 115, Rs 225, Rs 575 and Rs 1,130 but the newly announced low tariffs will not be available on these cards. So, if you pick up a Rs 575 calling card you will have to pay Rs 3.25 per minute for a call to the US.

While the new tariff is lower than what is being offered by Reliance's rivals, the calling card works only on a Reliance Communication phone. This is true for all calling cards in the market. A Hutch calling card, for instance, can only be used on a Hutch mobile phone.

Barring access

An industry representative pointed out that with operators not deploying carrier access codes, which allows the user to chose the long distance carrier, most mobile and fixed line operators have barred access to competing long distance operator's networks. The advantage, however, is that users of calling cards do not have to pay any security deposit or rentals for making long distance calls.

Operators do deduct a nominal service charge on a global calling card. Calling cards also offer cheaper per minute calls compared to calling from a cell phone, where operators charge around Rs 7 per minute for calls to the US.

Related Stories:
Hutch launches calling cards
Airtel targets NRIs in US with `cheaper' calling service

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Strategy | Reliance Communications Ltd

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