Bharti Airtel forays into United States market

New Delhi, Dec 7: Targeting the non-resident Indians in US, Bharti Airtel Ltd today announced its foray into the country with the launch of Airtel CallHome service.

The company will take its telecom expertise to benefit over 2.5 million NRIs based in the US. They will now be able to call on one in India at a rate of 7.9 cents a minute.

All they need to do is go to the Airtel website, create their personal account and download the calling service online.

''We have over 2.5 million non-resident Indians in the US, who make over 450 million minutes of calls a month to India. The US, India route is the 10th most busiest traffic route,'' company's President Manoj Kohli told reporters here.

Compared to the other options available in the market, this service comes at a significant 40 per cent less in terms of pricing.

A big advantage of this service is the simplicity it offers owing to the uniform rate of calling whether it is to any Airtel mobile or landline or any other mobile phone or landline, he added.

''The Enterprise Services SBU was created to address the needs of customers in India through the corporate division as well as across continents through our carriers division. With this foray we bring the triple proposition of reduced rates, ease a convenience of using this service and will provide unmatched call quality to NRIs in US,'' company's Joint President Enterprise Services Vinod Sawhny said.

Available initially on pre-paid option, the payments for pre-paid recharges will be accepted through the credit card on web portal through a secure payment gateway.

Airtel also offers it's customers to choose their mode of managing their personal accounts either through the internet, Airtel call center or through a local toll-free access number that can be accessed across the continent from any phone.

After foraying in 50 states of US, the company also plans to venture in top 10 NRIs countries by March, 2007.

On the occasion, the company also released an advertisement conceived by Karan Johar, featuring film star Sharukh Khan.

UNI