Airtel slashes call rates to take on Idea, BSNL

Lucknow, Nov 20 (UNI) In a bid to counter the competition offered by state-owned BSNL and Idea, Airtel today announced a special tariff voucher providing calls at 15 paise per minute.

Airtel claimed this is the lowest rate of outgoing calls in the country offered by any GSM operator.

Airtel (UP East) Chief Operting Officer (COO) Shanker Prasad said here that existing and new prepaid customers of the circle can make calls as low as 15 paise per minute with its new Rs 149 tariff voucher.

Under the new tariff vouncher of Rs 149, a customer can get 15 paise per minute for calling on any Airtel mobile in UP and Uttaranchal, 25 paise to other mobiles, 50 paise to any landline, Rs 1.50 on STD. Similarly SMS has been reduced to 50 paise for the local circle and Re 1 for the national.

Earlier, Idea and BSNL had launched competitive tariff for outgoing calls ranging from 30 paise to Re 1.

The new tariff voucher would have a validity of one month.

Mr Prasad said Airtel has also launched a new Rs 799 recharge coupon of one year validity with talktime of Rs 200.

The company has also introduced 'Airtel Song Catcher' by which customer can download any song of their choice and make it as Hello tune.

Announcing these sops, Mr Prasad said keeping in line of our promises, these unique offerings are an effort to reward the Airtel cusomers for being a part of India's largest GSM mobile family.

'' With customised and innovative benefit under the Rs 149 tariff voucher and Rs 799 recharge , we have attempted to further enhance the value proposition on Airtel. Song Catcher service is an enriched service leveraging innovation and tehcnology for the music lovers to download their favourite music anywhere any time'', he added.

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