The new rate comes into effect from May 1. Koshika Telecom managing director Vinay Rai said: "We have made history by becoming the first cellular service provider in the country to offer cellular airtime at par with land line call charges of DoT.

Koshika will charge a flat rate of Rs 1.20 per three minutes throughout the day without any distinction of peak and standard hours. Subscribers will have to pay a monthly rental of Rs 250, coupled with an initial activation fee of Rs 2,310 plus a refundable deposit of Rs 7,690. Consumers will also be able to make STD and ISD calls at DoT rates without airtime charges, said Rai.

Koshika's bitter competitor in the Uttar Pradesh (west) circle, however, maintained that it would notslash its airtime tariff for the time being.

Essar, its competitor in the UP (east) circle, would study the offer and react positively, its chief of business operations Naved Khan said. Essar charges a monthly rental of Rs 206 per month and an airtime charge of Re 1 per minute for incoming and Rs 2 for outgoing calls in its Aircell cellular services.

Escotel's chief sales and marketing officer Rajiv Burman said: "We will study the details of the offer before announcing any alternative tariffs."

"Although the offer is very aggressive, we believe that the measure will lead to a downslide and disturb the market," he added. Escotel charges a monthly rental of Rs 156, a no long-distance charge of Rs 49 and airtime of Rs 5.50 per minute for four hours from 9 am to 11 am and 5 pm to 7 pm, and Rs 3 per minute from 7 pm to 9 am and 11 am to 5 pm. In addition, the company charges an activation fee of Rs 2,200 plus a refundable deposit of Rs 2,000. Vinay Rai said Koshika's competition now onwards was not withother cellular service providers but with department of telecom.