Himanshu Singh

I dont know why people have problems if a company copes the tariff plans from its rivals!!! What should matter is the affordability! All STD calls at 50 paise would be a steal!!! I hope the information is true so that others M/s Rcom, Idea and airtel can copy!!

Its revolutionary.I am sure Reliance wont waste time in coming out with the same plan.Is this offer nation wide?or circle specific?

Idea had reduced the tariff for its mygang subscribers. I would like to share it with all of us here. Happy hours tariff( between 10 pm and 5 pmthe next day) Gang to Gang local calls@0.10 All other local calls@0.50 Idea to Idea STD calls@1.00 All other STD calls @1.30 All SMS@0.10 Peak hours(between 5 am and 10 pm) Gang to Gang@0.50 Other local calls@1.00 All std calls@1.30 All SMS@0.25 Also free Idea to Idea mins recharges and sms packs are now applicable on Gang cards as well. All STD calls during 24 hours can be reduced to Re.1/min by a recharge of Rs.31/month.

friends starting today rupees 31 std recharge which reduces all std calls to rupee one is applicable for gang cards as well. earlier rupees 39 recharge was the only tariff voucher applicable which reduced only mobile std calling rates.starting this evening 39 recharge has been withdrawn.so one more reason to cheer!

I think Reliance would not go below Re.1.49.They already have std calling cards with calling rates of Rs.1.5,Rs1.25 and Re1.

Its cheaper than what other companies are offering in a single plan in prepaid. 1.How many companies are allowing National SMSes@0.10 in prepaid? 2.How many companies are allowing local mobiles and landlines calls@0.50 for no extra charges? 3. How many companies are offering free on net calls in different quantum suited to every type of needs of the customers? Idea for instance offers the following: Rs 30 recharge offers 100 mins I2I calls valid for 15 days Rs 50 recharge offers 200 mins I2I calls valid for 15 days Rs 101 recharge offers 500 mins I2I calls valid for 15 days Rs 149 recharge offers 1000 mins I2I calla valid for 30 days. My point is that if someone does not want unlimited on net calls does he have an option of limited on net free calls with other operators to the extent available with idea starting@ Rs.30? 4. How many companies are offering Rs. 87 on top up of Rs.100?Forget 100 Idea is offering TT of Rs7.9 on top up of Rs.10.(Full TT on 222,333,555,777,999 with additional free on net talktime. This might be true for other operators as well) 5.How many companies are allowing 50 national sms free for Rs.29 recharge? And we are talking of a single prepaid plan called Gang card where in one can have all SMS@0.10, local calls@0.50 and STD calls@1.30 without any extra recharge. If coupled with STD recharge of 39 and free ON net recharge, its a plan I have not come across with other companies.

whats the best gprs plan for unlimited surfing in delhi?

I agree. Airtel has the worst service in Delhi.Its the most expensive as well for features other than calling.Network congestion is rampant.

I agree compeltely.I would say My gang is the best plan in prepaid by any company at the moment in the market.I am using it for past 8 months now.

It has come as a pleasant surprise for me.Now i expect airtel to match this offer from vodafone. Also idea cellular and reliance comm should wake up from their deep slumber. I wish the psu telcos like mtnl and bsnl reduce their tariff. Mtnl, as it is, offers all india std@1.75, so they should not have a problem cutting the price by 25 to 50 paise. Sadly I have no info about what bsnl offers and what it is upto. Finally i think that this tariff war would in a couple of weeks would leave the std tariff@1.00. I am also seeing the end of roaming incoming charges becoming a thing of the past in next 6-8 months. I am a gand card user of idea cellular in delhi and enjoy the following benefits for a daily deduction of rupee 1. 10 AM TO 5 PM local mobile calls@0.50 idea to idea std@1.00 other std@2.75( on recharge of 39/month it becomes@1.00) local and std sms@0.10 5PM TO 10 PM local mobile and landline calls@1.00 std calls@2.75( rs 39 voucher does not change the std call rates during this time band) all sms@0.25 Everything, except the base std tariff@2.75 which does not change during the evening hours is ok. Idea does have global calling card in denominations starting at Rs.99 with talktime of Rs. 88 and validity of 30days which provides mobile std calls@1.10 and lndlines std calls@1.20 which can be used 24hours. I use this GCC for std calls during the evening hours. Now if idea does cut its std tariff to even 1.50, I feel this is the best plan any service provider can offer me in Delhi as a normal subscriber(not as a corporate or something). What say guys?

Conclusions: 1. Operators without NLD services cant match the airtel offer, which means no std rate cuts for idea, vodafone, aircel, spice and so on in immediate future.If that happens it would be a big loss for such telcos.(this i mentioned in my earlier post well before ET reported that small telcos would find it hard to match this offer.) 2. Airtel is a monopolist telco, which we all along doubted. Remember how airtel together with idea and vodafone tried to thwart the allotment of spectrum to new operators.

Small telcos cry foul over Bharti's rate cut NEW DELHI: When the big fish fight, the small fry scramble for cover. The plight of small telecom operators, who were forced into a corner following substantial tariff cuts by Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications earlier this week is a case in point. Five small telecom operators allege that they will have to bear the cost of Bharti’s 40% tariff cut for roaming and STD calls. These telcos, which use Bharti’s national long-distance network (NLD) for routing their STD traffic and pay it a carriage fee for the same, will now have to pay double the amount. Bharti, which was so far charging them about 25 paise a minute for carrying their STD traffic, has more than doubled the rate to 55-60 paise a minute. While these telcos admit that Bharti Airtel “is legally in the right” to charge a maximum of 65 paise a minute as carriage fee since this is the upper limit set by sector regulator Trai, they also add that the company’s recent move to double the fee was done with to ensure that regional and smaller players “find it impossible” to match the tariff cuts. ET spoke to six operators, of which five confirmed that Bharti’s decision to hike carriage fees would impact their “ability to get into a price war”. The move to hike carriage fees is also forcing some of the smaller players to roll out their own NLD networks. Says Spice Telecom CEO Naveen Kaul: “It is a fact that Bharti has increased carriage charges considerably. Our response is that it may not impact Spice Telecom as we are in the process of setting up our own NLD network.” Explained a top executive with another leading GSM telco: “Bharti has so far offered us a heavy discount for carrying our STD traffic on their network. This helped us greatly to drop long-distance tariffs in the past two years. RCOM and BSNL were not offering such discounts, while other players like Tata Communications (VSNL) do not have the same network coverage. The hike in carriage fees is a severe competitive disadvantage to smaller operators, who were all along using Bharti’s NLD network. Second, by nearly doubling carriage charges from other operators, Bharti has ensured that the revenue impact of the recent tariff cuts it has announced is minimal or even positive

I have my doubts about telcos not having their own long distance network like vodafone and idea matching the latest offer by airtel. as of now only bsnl, reliance, tata and airtel have std network. all other telcos have to piggyback one of these telcos for routing their long distance calls. so we might not see vodafone and idea matching this offer. i will be really surprised if they do match this offer. Guys I have some news that airtel is going to cut down the local call rate further to as low as 30 paise on its own network and 50 paise to other networks. also airtel has cut down the std sms rates to 1.5 from 2.00

my guess is reliance will offer the std calls@1.49!!!! hahaha..

copycaters? should have caled copycats!

smasung j210 is available since last month. i bought it for Rs 6250 with 1mb card free with it. its a good phone atleast beter than nokia phones of the same range.

MTNL garuda has introduced a new plan for its cdma customers in delhi and mumbai. Recharge voucher cost Rs.222, 30days validity Talktime Included Rs 100 local calls free to mtnl mobiles,lanldlines/wwl local calls to the rest @0.50/min, std to all @1.00 Local sms to all free STD sms@0.50

my idea's card validity expired on dec 9 and my gprs is still active and the negative balance stands at 280@Rs.5/day.

Friend if you really need a lot of calls to be made on a single network you might like to consider opting for MTNL with their student recharge voucher wherein you not only get unlimited local calls free to MTNL network bit you also get unlimited local smses to all networks and other calls includign std@1. Or you might like to go for Idea's my gang wherein local calls to mobiles are @0.50 for 19 hours a day and with a stv of Rs.39 you can make std calls to mobiles@1.00.The benefit is the onnet calls to gang numbers@0.10. Finally you can also check Reliance and Tata if you want to buy a new handset and all that.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam [Get Quote] Limited announced on Thursday a slew of offers which includes cut in rates of its services like mobile, landline, broadband, IPTV and VoIP. "Most of the private mobile operators have reduced their call rates to Re 1 per minute. We have gone a step further by fixing the rate to 90 paise per minute from our Dolphin and Trump mobile phones. This will help us increase our customer base," MTNL Executive Director J Gopal told reporters in Mumbai. MTNL had earlier reduced the call charges from Trump to MTNL landline from Rs 1.50 per minute to 90p per minute from January 1 this year. However from January 26, a flat rate of 90p per minute is applicable to calls to any local number of Mumbai across all operators. It has also reduced call rate to MTNL Delhi. Call rates from Dolphin post-paid has been reduced from Rs 1.65 to as low as 30 paise per minute and calls to MTNL Delhi from Trump prepaid are 90 paise per minute against earlier Rs 2 per minute. "We have a total 37 lakh subscriber base of which there are 14 lakh mobile subscribers. With these initiatives, we aim to add another 1.5 to 2 lakh subscribers by March-end," Gopal said. To improve its service, the telecom major is adding seven and a half lakh switching capacity for mobile network to existing 13.25 lakh and 300 base transmission stations for radio network to its existing 512. Company's other initiative include reduction in download charges of GPRS from 2p per kb to 1p kb for both pre-paid and post-paid customers. With effect from January 7, MTNL has started offering Combo Plans on landline services. In this plan the customers can get combination of landline, Broad Band, IPTV and VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol which helps in making ISD calls at cheaper rates) at lower rates. Four such Combo Plans have been launched. Combo Broadband offers free 200 landline calls and 400 MB download in Rs 500 per month. Combo IPTV offers Landline with Broadband and IPTV services with 150 plus TV channels at Rs 500 per month. Combo VoIP -- offers Landline, Broadband and VoIP with 100 free landline calls and 400 min of VoIP talk time in just Rs 400 per month, he said. Combo Triple offers Landline, Broadband, VoIP and IPTV at Rs 750 only where the customers can get 400 MB free download, free over 150 TV channels and 400 min of free VoIP talktime. Another important initiative which became effective from January 29 is a free Trump SIM card as a loyalty scheme for all its existing Dolphin, Trump, landline and Garuda customers. This offer has been introduced to reward the loyal MTNL customers and extend the existing relationship with customers. The free SIM card worth Rs 150 comes with a talk time of Rs 53 with a talktime validity of 10 days, he added.

This service is in operation in Delhi since October 2, 2007.. I have been using it since its beginning..its better than all other operators.

Telecom regulator the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) wants the government to revise the existing licence fee of Rs 1,651 crore for pan-India communication services. The regulator is of the view that the existing licence fee of Rs 1,651 crore can no longer be applicable today since this price was discovered in 2001, when the fourth cellular licences were auctioned. This view has also been endorsed by the finance ministry, which in addition to seeking a revision of the existing licence fee, has also demanded an explanation from the Department of Telecom (DoT) for persisting with the 2001 price. TRAI has already asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to revise the current fee of Rs 1,651 crore: “The entry fee as it exists today is, in fact, a result of the price discovered through a market-based mechanism applicable for the grant of licence to the 4th cellular operator in 2001. In today’s dynamism and unprecedented growth of the telecom sector, the entry fee determined then is also not the realistic price for obtaining a licence. Perhaps, it needs to be reassessed through a market mechanism,” Trai has told DoT. When asked, Mr Misra said the proposed value of a pan-India licence, which comes bundled with a start-up spectrum, could be in the range of Rs 6,000-10,000 crore. At the same time, he emphasised this amount was not based on any calculations done by the regulator. “TRAI has not been given any mandate by DoT to determine the licence fee. This amount is just an estimate to the value of the spectrum,” he added. DoT is already outlining a mechanism to charge new entrants more for spectrum. As reported first by ET, DoT plans to fix a one-time spectrum fee for all new players who plan to offer second generation (2G) mobile services in the country. This start-up fee, which is expected to run into a few thousand crores, will be in addition to the Rs 1,651-crore entry fee that all new entrants have to pay for a pan-India licence. DoT has also set up a committee to fix the fee for initial 2G spectrum. Put simply, the DoT move implies that the licence will be delinked from spectrum and the existing fee if Rs 1,651 crore is meant only for the licence. This comes even as players awaiting GSM spectrum to roll out services have demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intervene to ensure that new entrants are charged lower entry fee to create a level-playing filed. The regulator also wants telcos to pay a higher part of their revenues for the use of spectrum. In its recent recommendations on this issue, TRAI had said GSM operators must pay a one-time fee of Rs 16 crore per MHz of spectrum allotted to them beyond 10 MHz while also hiking the revenue share to 6% of the operators’ total revenues for allotment of radio frequencies of up to 12.5 MHz, 7% for 15 MHz and 8% for radio frequencies above 15 MHz. Justifying the move for higher spectrum fees, TRAI said: “The authority noted that in the past few years, the market capitalisation of listed telecom companies has increased manifold, and their operating margins are also going up in line with the world’s competitive telecom markets. The authority also noted the share of listed telecom companies in the total market capitalisation was more than 13% for the period August 1, 2006 to July 31, 2007. The Authority added the EBITDA margin of listed telecom companies is more than 1.75 times compared with listed IT companies. In the wake of growing demand of spectrum and its limited availability, the authority has revisited the existing spectrum charges to reflect a reasonable market value of allocated spectrum.” source ET

Some correction regarding airtel. it offers 222 mins of local airtel to airtel calls and 222 mins of airtel to airtel std.Its not for offnet.

Magic Tariff Voucher worth Rs.112 Talk time Nil, Validity 30days tariff details on net local calls@25paise(7am to 11pm and 11pm to 7 am free) off net local calls@50paise on net std calls@75paise off net std calls@1.50 Beat it!

Telecom service provider Tata Indicom today introduced a new tariff plan under which its prepaid customers would be able to make STD calls at just 49 paise per minute in the same network. The new plan -- STD plus STV -- would also allow users to make calls at 99 paise per minute to all the other networks across the country, the CDMA company said in a statement. The tariff plan would come at a price of Rs 99 and would be valid for 30 days. The STV would be applicable to all profiles -- existing and new subscribers, except those on double talk time plan (Go Easy plus and Go Xtra/Plus).