BSNL cuts STD/ISD rates by 25%

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) on Thursday cut its STD and ISD rates by 25 per cent. So while calls to the US, Australia, New Zealand, Sout...

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) on Thursday cut its STD and ISD rates by 25 per cent. So while calls to the US, Australia, New Zealand, South East Asian countries, Gulf, Africa and SAARC nations will be cheaper, calls within India for distances more than 200 km will also be charged less — Rs 3.60 per minute instead of Rs 4.80 during peak hours.

This could be the beginning of a tariff war as private companies are expected to follow suit to match the BSNL prices valid from April 10. Currently STD calls from mobile to mobile phones are cheaper with a maximum tariff of Rs 3 per minute and minimum varying from operator to operator. But calls from mobile phones to landline fixed phones and fixed to fixed line phones are currently in the range of Rs 4.50 to Rs 5 per minute which will see a revision downwards. Speaking to newspersons, BSNL chairman and managing director V P Sinha said ‘‘BSNL has reduced STD rates for calls beyond 200 km to Rs 3.60 per minute from the present Rs 4.80 per minute,’’ he said.

It cut the present promotional rates of Rs 9.60 per minute for calls to the US and Canada to Rs 7.20 per minute, while the current promotional tariff of Rs 7.20 per minute on calls to the UK will stay.

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The state-run firm has reduced promotional call rate of Rs 24 per minute during peak time and Rs 21.18 per minute in off-peak hours for Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, UAE, Yemen and all African countries to Rs 18 per minute.

Similarly, ISD calls to South East Asian countries including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong would cost Rs 9.60 per minute as against Rs 12 per minute earlier, a drop of 20 per cent. BSNL subscribers making calls to Australia and New Zealand would enjoy reduced isd rate of Rs 18 per minute against a peak rate of Rs 24 per minute and an off-peak rate of Rs 21.18 per minute earlier.

“The reduction in tariffs would result in a loss of Rs 300-350 crore but we hope it will compensated through surge in traffic,” Sinha said.

Targeting lower middle income group, BSNL launched a pilgrimage calling card with denomination of Rs 100 and Rs 200 and a 30-day validity period. To be effective from April 5, the card would entitle pilgrims a discount of 10 per cent on local, std and isd rates and will be available from pilgrimage locations only.