BSNL, MTNL offers zero roaming for 5 hrs

New Delhi, Jun 1 (UNI) Aggravating the price war, state-run telecom operators MTNL and BSNL today slashed national roaming charges to zero for the first 300 minutes (five hours) on a new post-paid plan of Rs 550 to be effective from June 3.

Subscribers will now have to pay Re 1 for any incoming call beyond 300 minutes on roaming, while 40 paise will be charged for GSM (own network) and Re 1 in other networks including fixed, WLL connections. ''We expect a significant jump in our traffic and volumes,'' BSNL CMD A K Sinha told reporters here.

BSNL also launched a calling card -- Callnow -- which will enable subscribers to make international long distance calls to the US, Canada and Russia at Rs 1.75 per minute and to the Gulf countries at Rs 6.75 per minute.

The card is available for Rs 2,000 and comes with free talktime of the same amount.

On this occasion, Communication and IT Minister A Raja said other private operators are likely to join the bandwagon in a couple of days, as talks are on with few of them.

When asked about the srapping of domestic roaming charges as announced by his predecessor Mr Dayanidhi Maran, the Minister said, ''No exercise has been done in this regard. This is a first step and we can go along with other future plans.'' About 3G, Mr Raja said, ''A comprehensive and exhaustive policy document in this regard is likely to be placed in the coming Parliament session.'' Telecom Minister A Raja had earlier said his department was looking at the possibility of lowering the domestic roaming charges, as planned by Mr Maran.

Mr Raja further said, ''He wants BSNL to place the Advanced Purchase Order (APO) on a lower price of 100 dollar for its 45-million GSM network expansion plan.'' The 45-million BSNL GSM network expansion plan, already delayed by six months due to a legal battle, could be held up further over prices quoted by the two lowest bidders -- Ericsson and Nokia.

Swedish bidder Ericsson had quoted 107 dollar per line and had got 60 per cent of the 45 million GSM contract, while the second lowest bidder Nokia secured 40 per cent.

UNI