Airtel, India's leading mobile service provider on Tuesday reduced its prepaid tariffs on local calls by 60 per cent and STD calls by a third for Airtel to Airtel callers.
Local calls to a fixed line and to other mobile phones have been reduced by up to 25 per cent. As per the new tariffs, local call rates from Airtel prepaid to any other Airtel mobile have been slashed to Re 1 per minute from the present Rs 2.45 per minute.
Customers can now call any other Airtel mobile in the country at only Rs 2 per minute. Airtel has also introduced a simplified uniform rate for STD calls to any fixed line phone in the country.
A call made to any fixed line phone would now be charged at Rs 3.25 per minute, irrespective of the distance, the company said in a release issued on Tuesday. The new tariffs would be rolled out between 25th and 26th August across all circles and be applicable to both new and existing customers on payment of a nominal one-time charge of Rs 50.
The charge would be waived for new customers registering before September 30.
"We believe that these tariffs will catalyse a steep growth in the mobile category. The tariffs so introduced are simple and are aimed at providing best value to our customers," said Manoj Kohli, president Mobility, Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd, while announcing the tariffs.
The company has an aggregate of 8.73 million customers as on 31 July 2004 and offers services in sixteen out of 23 circles in India.