As of now, this arrangement between MasterCard International and MTNL is the first of its kind in the country and will be conducted on an exclusive basis for an initial period of three months, says Sameer Vakil, vice president and country manager, South Asia, MasterCard International.

This arrangement will also facilitate payment for other services including TeleMart stores, applying for a new telephone connection, Internet connection/subscription, STD, and ISD services.

This facility would be available initially at select MTNL locations with centralised billing systems. MTNL would extend the acceptance of MasterCard cards at select STD booths at a later stage. MTNL is also in discussion with IndianOil to use their petrol pumps, in Mumbai and Delhi, for the payment of MTNL telephone bills. By June, MTNL will set up Internet kiosks in pertol stations, to enable people to make the payment on the Net, informed S Sundresan, director (finance), MTNL.

Though its earlier scheme of payment on the Net did not work out too well, MTNL is sure that people will make full use of the option of paying through credit cards. As part of its credit card initiatives, MTNL is also tying up with American Express to offer a co-branded credit card, said Sundresan. The co-branded cards, which will hit the market in another three months will be given free of cost to the customers in the first year.