Pay Re1 and you can talk, talk, talk

Unveiling a new era in telephony in the country, Tata Teleservices (TTSL) on Tuesday introduced a pay-per-call offer for its prepaid CDMA subscribers. The rates are Re1 and Rs3 per call for local and STD calls, respectively, the duration of the call notwithstanding. Text messaging will be priced at 50 paise per SMS.

The tariffs will apply to calls made or SMSes sent from a TTSL prepaid CDMA connection to a mobile or fixed phone under any telephony network in the country.

While the offer is obviously for all new Tata Indicom prepaid users, existing subscribers need to make a onetime payment of Rs96 to switch over. Also, there is a daily fee of Re1 for one to avail oneself of the new tariff option.

Ahead of mobile number portability being introduced in the country, TTSL’s latest scheme is being seen as an attractive offer for subscribers of other telecoms, analysts said (mobile number portability is about a subscriber changing the service provider while retaining the phone number). Besides number portability, competition in the telecom space is the trigger for the scheme, the analysts said.

Calling the offer ‘revolutionary’, TTSL managing director Anil Sardana said: “Pay per call will not just change the pricing paradigm in the telecom space — it also marks a giant step in TTSL’s evolution as a telecom operator with its primary focus on creating consumer delight.”