Announcing this at a conference today, MTNL chairman S Rajagopalan announced that the company was planning to get 50,000 lines based on Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) technology for both Mumbai and Delhi in order to clear the waiting list for telephone connections in these two cities by the end of next year.

The MTNL has already placed an order for 50,000 lines for Mumbai based on WLL technology and is likely to do so for Delhi also within the next few months. Of the WLL phones for the two cities, 60 per cent will have mobile handsets which will work like mobile phones within a 15 km radius and 40 per cent would be normal stationary kits. This will give subscribers an option to use the mobile WLL phone as a cheap substitute of the cellular phone. The per call charges for these mobile calls will be the same as those from a normal landline - Rs 1.40 fora three-minute call and free incoming calls.

MTNL will also launch several new ``intelligent network'' services tomorrow for their 35 lakh subscribers in Delhi and Mumbai. These services will include virtual card calling, free phone services, premium rate services, virtual private network and tele-voting, as reported in The Indian Express dated November 10. Calls made on these numbers (1600 and variations of it) will not be paid by subscribers but by the party which is called.

The charges for these calls will be paid by companies who want people to know about their products or services. For example, if a company wants subscribers in these two cities to get more information about the array of products they have in the market or are planning to introduce, they can approach MTNL, and MTNL will give them a number, some variation of 1600. Callers calling these numbers will get information about these products and the company will pick up the tab for these calls.

MTNL will also launch Premium RateServices (PRS). These services will allow subscribers to get information on the weather forecast, share market, availability of beds in different hospitals, fortune forecast from their phones - at a price of course.

These information services, will be run by private companies, who would provide this information on the phone with MTNL tele-linking them with the subscribers. The private companies will be allowed to decide what they want to charge subscribers and will work out a revenue sharing arrangement with MTNL which will get part of the charge. MTNL will also launch virtual card calling through pre-paid cards of the denomination of Rs 100 for local calls, Rs 200 for local calls and STD and Rs 500 for STD, ISD and local calls. These cards will enable subscribers to make STD calls from any phone even if does not have an STD code, only by punching in the code number on the card. At the end of the call, the subscriber will also be able to find out the remaining value left on the card.