BPL, Orange take a 30 pc plunge
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

FEBRUARY 14: Mumbai’s cellular phone subscribers reason to smile, with both BPL and Orange slashing their tariffs by 30 per cent. Responding swiftly to the highly discounted introductory charges by the state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), both companies have slashed their air time tariffs by over Rs 1.20 paise, making it costlier than MTNL's charges by only 10 paise.

MTNL plans to launch its mobile phone services christened `Dolphin' in Mumbai from March 2 at Rs 2.70 for outgoing calls and Rs 1.50 for incoming calls, with a monthly rental of Rs 400. BPL and Orange will now charge outgoing calls at Rs 2.80 per minute and incoming calls at Rs 1.60 per minute, against the earlier Rs 4 per minute from a combined subscriber base of over 4.5 lakh customer. Their new tariffs will take effect on Thursday while it continues to offer 100 per cent savings in airtime on calls to frequently called numbers under the family and friends plan.

Says Girish Ranjan, executive director and CEO of BPL Mobile: ``It has been our constant endeavour to reduce entry barriers and make mobile telephony more affordable to common man.''

Adds Sandip Das, CEO of Hutchison Max Telecom: ``We launched Orange exactly a year ago and made a brand promise to give our customers the best value tariffs and services. Today, we are delivering on our promise even further with the introduction of a new tariff range.

BPL's Value Standard plan, under which both incoming and outgoing calls were charged at Rs 4 per minute, now stands at Rs 2.80 per minute for outgoing calls and Rs 1.60 for incoming calls. BPL also plans to increase the rental for its 9 pm to 9 am (9 to 9) free service, to Rs 150 from Rs 99 previously. However, the charges for the short message service (SMS) will be dropped to Re 1 per message from Rs 2 per message being charged currently. Hutchison has a similar offer for its customers.

Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.