Once MTNL launches this as a cellular phone -- admittedly, its range will be limited in comparison to a genuine GSM-technology cellphone -- the monthly rental package will also come down significantly. For one, while MTNL was planning to charge a rental of Rs 1,000 per month, this will now come down to Rs 600, and even lower once the new cellphone package gets cleared in line with the TRAI's consultation paper. The refundable deposit for the handset will also be lowered to Rs 10,000. As for the air-time, the TRAI prescribes onlythe maximum tariff -- so, MTNL will be free to stick to its original plan of charging Rs 1.40 for a three minute call.

If the package is approved by the TRAI, 10,000 such phones may be launched in Delhi and Mumbai next week. ``TRAI requires us to file the tariff package with them five working days in advance before launching a new package,'' says MTNL chairman and managing director S Rajagopalan. ``We will comply with all TRAI directions of providing a standard tariff package which offers airtime at Rs 6 per minute and some alternative packages which allow us to charge lower rates,'' he added.

Says Rajagopalan, `` we will cater to a niche segment of consumers as ours is a limited area of coverage for which we have a valid licence and we are in a position to provide an affordable service, even though this is after some delay .'' ``We will now aggressively cover the whole of Delhi and Mumbai once we have declared it a cellular service using a different technology,'' Rajagopalan explained.

This, however,may not be the end of MTNL's problems. Even if it gets clearance from the TRAI, MTNL may have problems with non-compliant equipment from Qualcomm for the WLL project with nobody willing to rectify the faults making the commercial launch difficult. Qualcomm, the company which supplied the equipment for the WLL project, itself has virtually closed shop in India. Multinational Swedish company Ericsson, which has bought over Qualcomm's R&D facilities in the US, has washed its hand off any of Qualcomm's obligations in India.

``We have only bought over Qualcomm's CDMA equipment manufacturing facilities in San Diego and some of their R&D facilities,'' says Anil Raj, Ericsson's managing director in India, speaking to The Indian Express. ``We have not bought any stock of the company and therefore we have nothing to do with the other businesses of the company,'' he added.