One India / One Nation / One Rupee Plans by various operators

[Ramchi 0]

No need to lose your heart.

Just imagine yourself 5-10 years back and think where we are now.

Give time to progress. One India with high monthly rental may be the initial step need not be the FINAl step towards achieving One India One Rate.

Later you may very well witness everyone giving 1000-5000 free any time minutes etc...that time even One Rate One India may not be an attractive offer!

[kesav 127]

Have a look

http://www.rimweb.in/forums/index.php?s=&s...indpost&p=55587

[kesav 127]

Have a look

http://www.bsnl.co.in/newsdetailed.php?news_id=280

http://www.bsnl.co.in/newsdetailed.php?news_id=281

[Ramchi 0]

BSNL One India seems to be an exciting one if it works!

It can beat the hell out of One India (Rs 1100) plans in RIM/Airtel etc...

I am not sure whether BSNL has this top-up options in case if you need to talk extra without updting your validity?

[abhay 0]

BSNL One India seems to be an exciting one if it works!

It can beat the hell out of One India (Rs 1100) plans in RIM/Airtel etc...

I am not sure whether BSNL has this top-up options in case if you need to talk extra without updting your validity?

may b you would find this one intesting

Bharti, Idea & Reliance tow BSNL line

Private telecom operators will soon join BSNL and MTNL in offering the OneIndia tariff. The two government-owned telcos today announced the OneIndia tariff scheme for fixed-line and mobile services.

Under this scheme, subscribers will have to pay a charge of Re 1 for a one-minute STD call or a three-minute local call. The new scheme will be implemented from March 1.

One of the impacts of the new tariff scheme is that private telecom operators are also planning to reduce tariffs. Bharti and Idea have already decided to cut STD and local tariffs matching the OneIndia scheme. Reliance Infocomm may also reduce the monthly rental of its existing scheme offering STD calls at Re 1 per minute.

In a competitive market, competitors have less choice. They have to match prices offered by bigger rivals. “We will also reduce charges and offer similar schemes to our subscribers,” said Badri Aggarwal, president, Bharti Infotel.

“We will follow the government‘s initiative and offer similar tariffs to our subscribers,” said Vikram Mehmi, chief executive officer of Idea Cellular.

Reliance is currently offering STD tariffs at Re 1 per minute to its subscribers under its Joy 499 plan. Under this scheme, a subscriber has to pay a monthly rental of Rs 499. According to sources, Reliance Infocomm is also planning to reduce the monthly rental of this scheme. Hutch officials could not be contacted for comments.

Under the OneIndia scheme, BSNL would offer a tariff of 40 paise a minute for its mobile subscribers (post-paid) for calls on its network and Re 1 per minute for other networks. Monthly rental for the new tariff scheme will be Rs 299 for post-paid mobile and fixedline users. However, there will be no free calls.

Pre-paid subscribers, on the other hand, are being offered a package or Rs 799, which would include a talk time of Rs 550 for a validity period of 30 days. Under the package, calls made to BSNL subscribers would be at the rate of 60 paise a minute, while for other networks it would be at the rate of Rs 1 a minute.

The union communications minister Dayanidhi Maran announced his One India tariff plan about seven months ago. However, BSNL was reluctant to offer this plan, saying that it would suffer huge losses to the tune of up to Rs 4,500 crore.

In today’s press conference, BSNL officials said the total losses to BSNL would be about Rs 3,000 crore. It needs an increase of 50% in traffic to wipe out these losses.

Private operators do not want to reduce STD and local call charges further. They say that the minister’s statement of One India tariff was not based on economics and there was a political agenda behind it.

They feel that the new tariff scheme will result in losses for them. However, they now have no choice but to slash STD and local tariffs. It is the customer who is benefiting from the new scheme.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1410427.cms

what say ???

[kesav 127]

As I've said in post #102 RIM prepaid one india is much better than BSNL prepaid one india.

In RIM you've option to either go for 555 or 1100.

BSNL postpaid one india tariff defeats its own one india prepaid tariff hands down.

BSNL excites in Postpaid and Landline but RIM beats in prepaid.

As per the BSNL website, top-up is possible on this voucher.

[Ramchi 0]

Good to see BSNL is keeping other operators on their toes with their innovative One Rate plan.

Here after moving Landline customers to Mobile may be difficult. Further reduction is almost impossible so all operators need to increase their bandwidth and make lots of offers. You may able to see lots of hue and cry related to availability of lines after March unless all operators have already upgraded their infrastructure to handle heavy call volumes.

[abhay 0]

OneIndia’s here, unlimited calls ahead

Sceptics can carp, but BSNL and MTNL on Friday paved the way for unlimited calls at a flat rate in the Indian telecom sector. For the first time, the PSUs have on offer one-minute calls on landlines and WLL phones at Re 1 and one-minute calls for 40 paise on mobiles.

Giving a fresh lease of life to landlines, the PSUs have pegged long-distance basic and WLL calls at Re 1 for every minute anywhere in the country and at all times. Local calls are at Re 1 per every three minutes. This comes at a rental of Rs 299 for fixed lines as well as WLL phones (currently Rs 250 in urban centres, and Rs 50-180 in rural centres).

Beating private sector rivals, OneIndia’s mobile subscribers will also pay a monthly rental of Rs 299 for post-paid or pre-paid connections. Calls within a circle on BSNL mobiles are pegged at Rs 0.40 for post paid and Rs 0.60 for pre paid customers. A monthly rental of Rs 799 for pre-paid mobiles also comes with free talk time worth Rs 550. All other calls will cost Rs 1 a minute.

‘‘There is a feeling we had opposed OneIndia. We had not,’’ said A.K. Sinha, CMD, BSNL, who announced the scheme on Friday along with MTNL CMD R.S.P. Sinha. ‘‘We have introduced a scheme that we are sure customers will opt for,’’ he said.

OneIndia goes live on March 1, two months after the date set by Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran. The biggest telecom operator, BSNL, however, said that the delay was on account of technical reasons related to its network - not because OneIndia would turn into a loss maker.

BSNL executives said today that increased traffic on its networks would more than compensate for a Rs 3,000 crore dip in revenues it expects because of the lower tariffs announced today.

‘‘We will be compensated by a stoppage in churn, increase in volume and addition of new customers,’’ said S.D. Saxena, Director, Finance, BSNL.

Already, BSNL’s estimates of expected traffic and customer additions would be giving private sector operators sleepless nights. BSNL believes 80 lakh of its 3.5 crore existing fixed line customers will be the first to switch to OneIndia.

In terms of total wireless subscribers, Reliance is now in the lead with 18.1 million subscribers, Bharti has 17.3 million and BSNL 15.3 million.

OneIndia, unexpectedly, has made the PSU confident of reversing this pecking order. With the landline churn expected to reduce, BSNL can also expect to stay with its customers for a longer time.

‘‘Not only the long-distance callers, we are also likely to stop landline owners from switching to private sector mobiles,’’ said J.R. Gupta, Director, Operations, BSNL.

According to initial estimates, the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for BSNL under OneIndia could reach levels of around Rs 400, provided people make calls worth Rs 100 in a month. By this measure, with industry ARPU sinking to under-Rs 300 levels, the scheme could be a killer application for BSNL.

This view was seconded by Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran on Friday, after prodding the PSU into OneIndia: ‘‘Do not over estimate the losses to BSNL because of OneIndia. It will more than break even from it.’’

With another round of reductions and a rejig of Access Deficit Charges (ADC) expected next week, the telecom tariffs may actually sink further.

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=87660

yup i have also heard it from somehwre that Revenue share adc's up next week man i cant wait for it to be implemented

i want my reliance 2 reliance unlimited scheme back

Edited February 11, 2006 by abhay

[Honest 836]

Well I was very eagerly waiting for this type of plan.

Cheers!

[Arun 795]

OneIndia revolution or missing the telecom bus?

Praful Bidwai

- Kahaleej Times

18 February 2006

Is India about to launch the much-awaited Telecommunications Revolution through the OneIndia tariff plan that Minister Dayanidhi Maran announced last week? Or is it likely to miss the bus yet again? The honest answer is, probably the second.

On the face of it, OneIndia is attractive. It has even been called "revolutionary". Reducing the local-call landline rates by the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam by 17 per cent to the magic figure of Re 1 for three minutes is an audacious step. Slashing the long-distance tariff by 58 per cent to Re 1 a minute irrespective of distance is even bolder. This carries the attraction of promoting a unified all-India market. Similar reductions have been effected in mobile tariffs too.

However, on closer examination, OneIndia will block telecom growth, especially in villages which need it the most. It will also discourage lower-middle class people from acquiring telephones and widen India’s yawning Telecom Divide. There’s no merit in imposing distance-independent tariffs in a semi-continental country like India.

OneIndia is likely to prolong the long stagnation in India’s teledensity, which is just 4.5 fixed lines per 100 people, among the lowest in the world. In Asia, India compares poorly not just with South Korea or Taiwan (teledensity, 50 per 100), but with China or Malaysia too (teledensity, about 20). OneIndia will again deprive India of advantages like saving costs, and reducing drudgery and labour expended in avoidable physical movement of people.

What explains the gap between appearance and reality? Call charges have been lowered, but monthly telephone rentals have been raised to Rs 299. The rise is 20 per cent for Mumbai and Delhi. But it’s much steeper (66 per cent) for BSNL’s city-based subscribers and an even sharper five-fold for rural lines.

This will put off new subscribers. True, existing subscribers have the option of staying with their old plan. But high rentals will act as future barriers. In villages, teledensity is an abysmal 2 per 100. OneIndia also discriminates against low-end users and favours high-end subscribers who make frequent long-distance calls. Ordinary Indians use the telephone frugally. Seventy-three per cent pay monthly bills of Rs 500 or less. As many as two-fifths ensure that their bill doesn’t exceed the rent, which includes a number of free calls.

Under OneIndia, there will be no free calls at all. The incomes of the 1.2 million people who operate public-call offices will be hit. BSNL and MTNL will suffer a revenue loss of Rs 3,000 to 5,000 crores. Maran seems to have been guided by motives other than ensuring BSNL-MTNL’s financial well-being. One is the coming Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, which has a relatively high telecom penetration. But this short-sighted calculation will prove expensive for the country. It’s hard to justify the sudden, large, reduction in long-distance rates. These have sharply fallen since 1999 from Rs 36 per minute. They dropped to Rs 24 (2000) to Rs 9 (2002), Rs 4.80 (2003), to Rs 3.60 (April 2004) and Rs 2.40 (September 2004). Further reduction could be spread over, say, three years. But a precipitate decrease will impose losses on the two public-sector companies.

They need to be strongly supported — for sound economic and social reasons. The burden of connectivity has fallen on BSNL’s shoulders. It has connected over 500,000 villages. The private companies have only connected 15,000! Private firms were meant to commit 10 per cent of all new lines to rural areas. They have provided only one-tenth.

Under OneIndia, private companies will indulge in cherry-picking. And public companies would be left with low-end users and lose revenue. India’s telecom sector is marked by enormous disparities and anomalies. The greatest anomaly is the National Telecom Policy of 1994, arbitrarily rewritten and repeatedly violated, as in the award of contracts for each of 20 basic telecom circles. The winners were obliged to pay high licence fees, but were let off-Banana Republic-style. Numerous scandals followed: cheating on service obligations, formation of cartels, sell-off of the public sector VSNL, and Reliance’s abuse of its fixed-line licence to provide full mobility.

Disparities are no less striking. Mobile telephony has witnessed dizzying growth, especially after 2003, when incoming calls were made free. Since 2000, the number of mobile lines has increased 30-fold to 65 million, overtaking fixed-line connections. It’s now annually growing at 50 per cent, or by two million lines a month. However, fixed-line growth has slowed from 25 per cent in the 1990s to just 7-8 per cent. Worse, the rural-urban divide has widened from 1:3 to 1:11. About 85,000 villages still remain unconnected. Mobile telephony has not bridged the divide. Mobile network coverage is only about 30 per cent of India’s land-area.

Three lessons emerge. Mobile telephones are not a substitute for fixed-line phones. A large proportion of their owners are fixed-line subscribers. Their spin-off effects are limited. Most cellphones don’t allow Internet access. Second, competition doesn’t guarantee growth. Competitors can narrowly focus on affluent consumers. It’s only when MTNL and BSNL were allowed to enter mobile telephony that costs dropped. Third, markets don’t address the needs of low-end consumers.

OneIndia is based on a technologically unsound presumption-the death of distance. This can only happen when Internet-based data transfers through Broadband connections greatly exceed voice traffic.

But in India, the number of fixed lines is 48 million. There are only about 1 million Broadband subscribers. Therefore, the length of copper wire or optical fibre must remain a major determinant of the real cost of calls. A Delhi-Chandigarh call should not be charged at the same rate as a Delhi-Kokatta call. Irrational pricing is a recipe for losses and slower telecom growth. Maran is a man in a hurry. But he should pause and ask if any country has provided telephones to the masses without cross-subsidies-so that surpluses gathered from long-distance calls and rich subscribers to support expansion in backward areas and among low-end users. India is no exception to this. OneIndia will promote telecom elitism and further divide the country. That’s not what we need.

[SexyGurl 0]

Who is this crap-hole Praful Bidwai ??

I bet some Leftist Dog, and a S.O.B.

[tanveer 59]

Long time no hear sexy gurl! aka Bh.....

where have you been?

[Arun 795]

Who is this crap-hole Praful Bidwai ??

I bet some Leftist Dog, and a S.O.B.

Welcome back !

Quoted from Khaleej Times...

Praful Bidwai is an eminent Indian journalist and commentator. He can be reached at bidwai@bol.net.in

[amtrag 20]

The incomes of the 1.2 million people who operate public-call offices will be hit.

And I don't agree to this point. If, according to him, telephone becomes less affordable for mid & low-end users, and at the same time, long-distance tariff falls, then using a PCO would become much more lucrative option than maintaining own phone.

What do you guys say?

Edited February 21, 2006 by amtrag

[SexyGurl 0]

Long time no hear sexy gurl! aka Bh.....

where have you been?

I changed job, and have moved to Mumbai. ... New job, and naturally lots of workload, right now.

But the best thing is that .... Reliance India Cards are back. I can call back to Delhi at just Re. 1 per minute.

(Anyway, ambanijee will be happy ... his ARPU from me is going to go up significantly: earlier it used to be just about 149 or 199 per month .... now it's going to go up 3-4 times due to heavy STD).

[BPP 0]

I dont agree with Bidwai. with 1 Rs STD calls, villages will have more PCOs as affordability of STD call will increase.

Aslo with ADC reduction more ppl will go for mobile phone even in villages as call rates will decrease.

[SexyGurl 0]

The subscriber additions during the past two months have been VERY VERY promising: about 4.5 million additions each month.

This kind of numbers were being produced only by China.

My guess is that mobile penetration is going to explode this year (adding on over 4 millions every month). Also, read this morning, reliance has reduced the price of LG 2340 from 2500 to 1500. That will be very good.

Reliance itself is adding a million subscribers every month (for the past two months). It's increasingly looking to me that this is going to be normal, and continue in future months.

The only problem seems to be with internet penetration ..... and internet tariffs do not seem to be the biggest stumbling block. It's cost of owning a PC, which is too high .... a reasonable one, currently, is atleast 12-15 thousand rupees. Wonder if a 5-7 thousand internet-ready PC could be made !

Edited February 21, 2006 by SexyGurl

[Puneet 0]

Earnings of PCO owners might take a beating as OneIndia is not available to them.

source: BSNL Website

Additional Instructions:

i) The above Plan is not meant for Local/STD/ISD PCO's franchisee.

However, the article is flawed as it is based on the premise that henceforth BSNL will be offering a single tariff plan. But that is not the case, as OneIndia is being introduced as an alternative tariff plan, and a subscriber with low outgoings will always have an option to go for low rental high calling charges scheme. Telephone is bound to remain atleast as affordable as it is today for low/mid-range customers, the scheme is only going to make it more affordable to people with higher call outgo.

PS: Hey SexyGurl, Welcome to MumBhai.

[Arun 795]

OneIndia: Not really for the common man

- Rediff.com

Surajeet Das Gupta | February 22, 2006

Union Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran has been publicly talking about his great vision - to ensure the death of distance. So after much dithering, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd announced an aggressive "One India" plan last fortnight whereby customers will fork out only Re 1 a minute for a long distance call to any part of the country.

At first blush, it's an exciting offer. Your STD tariffs will drop a whopping 140 per cent - from current rates - and you can avail of this offer regardless of whether you have a mobile phone or landline.

Even local call tariffs will be cheaper by 20 per cent. Says a beaming A K Sinha chairman of BSNL: "The new One India tariff will make communications more affordable to the masses. And, of course, grow the Indian market." BSNL points out that while they will make a loss of Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) due to cheap STD calls, this will be more than compensated by a 40 per cent growth in calls, which it anticipates.

However, questions are being raised whether the "One India" offer is really as cheap or affordable as it is made out to be? Private telcos say they don't want to upset the minister's pet scheme and are unwilling to come on record.

Off the record, they tell you that "One India" is not a big deal and what the incumbent telcos have done is some smart tariff rejigging. Says a leading operator: "They wanted to create a noise and give the impression that they were the first to bring in "One India". If the Interconnect User Charges regime is changed as the regulator has said there is no reason why we cant offer the same tariffs. So it is nothing to do with vision."

Under the interconnect regime, the regulator is expected to cut access deficit charges which are paid by private operators to the incumbent for subsidising local calls, dramatically reducing the floor restriction whereby private operators have to pay a minimum of Rs 1.10 per call to the NLD operator as carriage fees (this has to be reduced as cost of carrying a call for NLD operators is as low as 30 paisa).

However, to be fair, all of them admit that the STD tariffs would make sense for high long-distance callers - the premium customers. Says a senior executive of a leading private sector telco: "In the fixed line tariff, they have reduced STD tariffs by increasing the rentals as well as removing the free calls. And in the mobile space they have again hiked the initial commitment that customers have to put up with."

Now let us compare the Rs 299 One India plan with its tariff plan of Rs 180 rental - which most of us use. The Rs 180 scheme consists of 50 free calls (which is valued at Rs 60 if all of them are used to make local calls) - so effectively your rental comes down to Rs 120.

Compare that with the Rs 299 One India plan. You effectively pay Rs 179 extra compared to the older scheme. If you are a customer who does not make STD calls of more than 90 minutes get, there is not much for you in the new tariff plan. That is because over and above the free calls, customers also have to pay for the next 300 calls only Re 1 for a three-minute call and Rs 2 for an STD.

The scenario is similar in the pre-paid mobile space. Again the commitment, which the pre-paid mobile customers have to pay upfront surely does not cater to the common man. It is again geared to benefit the premium customer - whose 30-40 per cent calls are STD.

Private mobile operators say while 70 per cent of the mobile market is based on pre-paid customers, the average revenue per user is Rs 200. These customers are looking for more local calls and minimum upfront costs. But the One India plan is based on a large upfront commitment - you have to fork out an upfront payment of Rs 799 (with a talk time of Rs 550) to get the cheap STD benefit.

In the post-paid arena, for instance, another closer look is warranted. While the Rs 299 post-paid offer provides STD calls at Re 1, there is no reason for you to change in case you are a customer who makes most of your STD calls to other mobile numbers.

For instance, Tata Indicom on its Rs 399 scheme already offer STD all across the country for Re 1. On top of it you get 100 SMS's free (that is valued between Rs 100 to Rs 200 depending on whether you are sending messages locally or in other locations in India), a much cheaper local mobile to mobile and mobile to fixed call rates - which are half of that offered by the incumbent in the new plan.

The message is clear, there are no free lunches. And while the Re 1 OneIndia offer is a bonanza for heavy STD users, it might not be that attractive for wooing new users.

[Ramchi 0]

Dear Friends,

My horrible experience with India One plan continues….

Initially, I tried this One India prepaid plan with Reliance which turned out to be a nightmare. Later I decided to quit Reliance and to try with Airtel. The reasons for me to quit Reliance is discussed in detail under the thread: Reliance One India is a fraud.

I have been with Airtel prepaid for the past 2 years or so. I never encountered any major problems either related to billing or service or network coverage. After my bad experience with Reliance I thought of attempting this One India plan with Airtel so I recharged my existing Prepaid account with Rs 1111 easy recharge for which I received Rs 750 worth of talk time @ Rs 1.00 Per Minute. This plan worked fine and I never got charged more than Rs 1.00 Per minute for all my out going calls.

Since the validity is only for 30 days I went to recharge my account with Rs 899 easy-recharge. I was told that Rs 899 is again another One India plan where we can make Rs 550 worth of calls @ Rs 1.00 Per minute across the country (as against, Rs 750 in the Rs 1111 One India plan) but there is no free SMS service. This is again valid for 30 days.

So, I was trying to recharge my account with Rs 899 easy recharge but to my surprise it is refused to recharge. The guy in the shop was trying to activate it as many times but I get a message saying the recharge attempt was unsuccessful. I was trying to recharge my account one day after the expiry date. I was wondering this may be the reason why it is not allowing me to recharge. But I still have Rs 540 worth of balance left in my account.

I was trying to activate my account by buying One Day [Rs 60] paper recharge, still I could not activate. I tried with Rs 200 paper recharge again it did not allow me to complete the transaction.

Worst part is, my account is disabled and when I tried to reach the customer service representative, automated voice says I must have an active account to talk to a representative but when I tried to activate it is not allowing me to do so.

So I was forced to make a paid call to the Airtel Customer Care and when I talked to them I found out this: When I sign up with India One plan under Rs 1111 plan, I can only recharge with Rs 1111 next time. Otherwise, I need to wait for 2 complete days [which in other words I can use my Rs 32K worth handset only as a paperweight] after the expiry date so that my plan will be reverted back to the original plan[which was there before I recharged my account with India One card] call rates.

I need to check tomorrow on this by trying to activate my Rs 200 paper recharge.

I think, all providers are working over time to make this One India plan as a failure. Our Communication minister must ban these service providers like Ambani and Mittal cheats.

[jusmail 0]

That's strange!

[Ramchi 0]

This morning it allowed me to activate my account with Rs 200 paper recharge.

This is completely violating the principles of Prepaid concept. How can Airtel force me to recharge only particular value [higher value in this case]? How the customer is expected to understand such nitty-gritties of their billing system? especially their prepaid customers who want simple service from Airtel and infact customers are paying for their services in advance unlike postpaid.

[Puneet 0]

:'(

That is how the telecom companies in India work, be it Reliance, Airtel, Tata or Idea. I guess the best thing to do is to go with the company which offers the best tariffs for your call pattern.