Tata Indicom offers 'pay-per-call' as price wars hot up

The price wars among mobile service operators seem to be getting hotter even as the union government gears up for further sales of radio spectrum. Close on the heels of Tata Docomo's 'pay-per-second' offer, dual-technology telecom service provider Tata Teleservices on Tuesday unveiled a 'pay per call' plan under its CDMA brand, Tata Indicom.

The newest offer from the Tata group company breaks from the usual pulse of one minute, charging subscribers a fixed charge on a per-call basis - at Re1 for all local calls and Rs3 for long-distance (STD) calls, regardless of the duration of the call. SMS comes at a price of 50 paise for both national and local messages.

The pay per call plan will be initially available only to pre-paid customers. And, of course, there is a catch - all subscribers who opt for it will be charged a daily fee of Re1. Current subscribers can avail of the offer with a one-time recharge fee of Rs96-99, depending on the circle. The validity is 10 years.

"The idea is to have one plan across all circles and break away from multiple confusing pulse rates and tariff plans. Our 'pay per call' will now end the counting of minutes. Our business is continuing to grow and this new plan will only complement the Docomo offer," a TTSL official in New Delhi said.

The increasing competition in Indian telecom circle may well jeopardise the potential deal between South Africa's MTN Group and Bharti Airtel, India's biggest mobile service provider.

Talks between MTN and Bharti are being followed breathlessly by the media, even though they are private and neither company is disclosing details. But MTN shareholders are known to have expressed the fear that the merger would dilute the value of their holding, considering the increasingly cut-throat competition in the Indian market.