India WLL initially will be for 100,000 lines in each of two cities (Mumbai & Delhi) and increase to 300,000 lines in each city.
JohnG
totaltele.com
Total Telecom Asia
New blow for India's cellular
firms as MTNL sets fees
By Jagdish Rattanani, Total
Telecom, in Mumbai
12 January 2001
India's cellular operators faced a further blow Friday when
Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan announced the rates for
the cellular services of state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam
Limited.
MTNL will charge 1.50 rupees per minute for incoming calls and 2.70
rupees for outgoing calls, Paswan told journalists in Mumbai.
This is lower than the average of 4 rupees per minute for private sector
cellular operators in Mumbai and Delhi, and introduces some tough
competition for the private firms. The operators were already reeling
from the recommendation by regulator TRAI that fixed operators should
be allowed to offer "limited mobility" via wireless local loop technology,
and have threatened to take legal action against the WLL proposal.
Private operators, however, have lower night rates and other price
plans that MTNL will not have at its launch.
"We have to test the waters before granting further concessions," said
MTNL's chief general manager for Mumbai, S. Ramani Iyer.
MTNL's rental charge will be the same as that of private operators at
400 rupees per month.
MTNL starts cellular service operations in New Delhi on 31 January
and in Mumbai on 28 February. The company will operate 100,000
lines in each city, gradually rising to 300,000 lines.
Mumbai's existing cellular operators are BPL Mobile and Hutchison
Max, which jointly service over 450,000 customers.
When asked about the move to allow restricted city-wide mobility via
WLL for fixed service providers, the minister said: "Our idea is to
benefit the customer to take the service to as many customers as
possible." He did not elaborate further.
The telecoms department has asked all its service areas across the
country to file caveats in their respective High Courts to ensure that
cellular operators do not obtain an ex parte stay on allowing mobility to
FSPs.
Cellular operators say allowing FSPs to provide mobile services would
grant them a "back-door entry" into the mobile services, and put the
cellular operators at a disadvantage. |
