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All about OneIndia phone calls
rediff Business Desk |
March 09, 2006
Hello! The good times are rolling for telecom users in India. You can now talk, talk and talk. . . without worrying about huge, shocking bills. For the first time, you can call any landline or mobile number anywhere in India for just Re 1 a minute. The much-awaited OneIndia plan is all set to become a hit as more and more customers queue up to take advantage of the Re 1/min calls. Currently, the STD (standard trunk dialling) rates are charged at Rs 2.40/min anywhere in India. "We have received a good response for OneIndia. We are getting about 30 to 50 applications everyday from Borivili alone," says S A Ghadigaonkar, sub-divisional engineer, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. So how do you avail of this facility? All you need to do is get a new MTNL/BSNL phone (landline or mobile) connection. If you already have a connection, you can shift by giving an application form at your nearest MTNL/BSNL centre. It takes just two days to shift to a new plan, MTNL officials say. If you already have an STD connection on your phone, you still need to fill up a form and submit at your nearest MTNL/BSNL office. Advantages of OneIndia There is no charge shift to a new tariff plan. You need to pay a deposit of Rs 1,000 if your phone does not have an STD facility now. However, if you have a phone with STD at present, you need not pay any deposit. - You can makes calls to fixed/WLL/mobile (own network) at Re 1 for 180 seconds.
- You can call any other mobile number at Re 1 for 60 seconds.
- You can call any STD number (landline or mobile) at Re 1 for 60 seconds.
- ISD (international call) rates have been slashed to as low as Rs 6 per minute for calls to the United States and the United Kingdom.
A peek into the OneIndia tariff OneIndia tariff for landline service:
Particulars | Pulse in seconds | One India Tariff | Fixed Monthly Charges | | Rs 299 | Free Calls | | NIL | Local Call Charges: | | To Fixed/WLL/Mobile (own network) | 180 | Re 1.00 per pulse | To all other Calls | 60 | Re 1.00 per min | STD Call Charges | Intra Circle Calls upto 50 KMs: | To fixed/WLL(F)/(BSNL network) | 180 | Re 1.00 per pulse | All Other Calls | 60 | Re 1.00 per min | Intra Circle Calls to Fixed/WLL/Cellular | 60 | Re 1.00 per min | ISD Call Charges | | UK, US, Canada | 10 | Rs 6.00 per min | Europe (other than UK), Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong | 7.5 | Rs 8.00 per min | Rest of world | 6 | Rs 10.00 per min |
Disadvantages of OneIndia - The rent will be hiked to Rs 299, irrespective of what rent you are paying now.
- There will be no free calls in this plan.
- A hike in the monthly rental is more than double the rental in some of the existing plans.
- Across the various plans, rents are quite low, and it is complemented with free calls depending on the plans that you have opted for. For instance, when you opt for a plan of Rs 500 you get 450 free calls.
- The charges on OneIndia will be applicable around the clock, there will be no off peak-hour discounts.
- There will be no discounts irrespective of the usage.
A comparison of all the tariff plans | Landline service | | Plan
160 | Plan
Economy | Plan
290 | Plan
500 | Plan
1000 | Plan
1500 | Plan
2000 | OneIndia | | Monthly Rental | 160 | 250 | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | 299 | | Assured Usage | Nil | Nil | 289 | 499 | 999 | 1499 | 1999 | 299 | | Free calls | Nil | 60 calls | 150 | 450 | 1000 | 1750 | 2350 | Nil | | Pulse rate | | Local (from landline) | | To landline | 180 seconds | Pulse rate for local calls
To fixed/WLL/Mobile
(own network) - 180 secs
All other calls: 60 secs | | To Cellular | 90 seconds | To MTNL landline
(At night hrs between
23.00 hrs to 0600 hrs) | 300 seconds | | Pulse rate in seconds (for less than 50 km from landline) | | To landline | 120 seconds | BSNL Fixed & WLL
network-180 sec
All other calls -60 secs | | To WLL Mobile | 60 seconds | | STD (from landline) | >50 - 100 kms | 60 seconds | 60 secs | >100 kms | 30 seconds | Calls to Delhi | 37.8 seconds | Call charges
(beyond free calls) | Rs 1.20 for
all calls | 61-300 calls (Re 0.80)
301-2000 calls
(Rs 1.20)
Above 2000 calls
(Re 1) | Rs1.20 | Rs1.10 | Re1.00 | Re0.90 | Re0.85 | Re 1.00 | | Registration Charge | Local-Rs 500 (to be converted into installation charge) | | Security Deposit | Local/STD-Rs 1000 will be collected in two equal installments ISD-Rs 3000 secuity deposit to be collected in 6 equal installments |
OneIndia not for STD booths The OneIndia plan is also not applicable to STD booths. The OneIndia plan is not applicable to MTNL phone cards, which most people who have a phone without STD facility use at present. So it would be a good idea to switch to OneIndia plan if you spend make more STD calls in a month than local calls. Hope OneIndia lasts and lasts and free calls in the plan are most welcome, say customers who have applied for OneIndia tariff. Table: Source MTNL
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