Taking the ongoing tariff war from mobile to fixed lines, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on Friday announced up to 28 per cent cut in the tariffs for fixed line telecom services by reducing the monthly rentals.
"The subscriber will be saving up to 28 per cent in the effective monthly bills," BSNL CMD A K Sinha told reporters.
Under the scheme, BSNL has cut the monthly rental to Rs 180 from the existing Rs 250 in urban areas and Rs 210 in rural areas.
With the reduction of rental charges, BSNL revenues would be hit by up to Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) annually.
BSNL also joined the tariff war with mobile operators and launched a pre-paid card with lifetime validity for Rs 949 which includes preloaded talk time of Rs 99.
The local call rates under pre-paid card would be Rs 1.60 per minute within BSNL network and Rs 2 to other networks.
For STD calls, the call rates would be Rs 2.40 within BSNL and Rs 3 to other networks, Sinha said.
The new scheme comes into effect from January 1.