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MTNL to cut cellular tariffs by 25%

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) , which will launch cellular services this month-end, plans to make tariffs at least 25 per cent lower than the existing operators, The Economic Times said on Friday. It said that the state-owned MTNL was likely to announce its tariff structure on Friday.

Quoting unnamed MTNL officials, the report said that MTNL would charge an average airtime of Rs 3 per minute against Rs 4, being charged by private operators.

MTNL which provides fixed line telephone and Internet access services in Delhi and Bombay, announced last week that it would start accepting applications for its cellular service in Delhi from January 15. In Bombay, applications will be accepted from February 15.

The services will be launched on January 31 and February 28 in Delhi and Bombay respectively, by the brand name Dolphin.

MTNL's entry into cellular services will mark the long-awaited arrival of a third operator and inject more competition in the two cities now being served by two private firms each.

MTNL has been given the right to be the third cellular operator in Bombay and Delhi while state-owned long-distance telephony provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has the right to be the third cellular operator in the rest of the country.

New Delhi had 433,474 subscribers at the end of November, divided between the two cellular firms Bharti Cellular and Sterling Cellular while Bombay had 462,555 subscribers divided between BPL Mobile and Hutchison Max.

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