India’s number one mobile service provider, Bharti Airtel Ltd, has cut long distance and roaming tariffs, effective from April 30. This is a very significant move by Bharti Airtel which is a truly Integrated Telecom operator in India with services ranging from Cellular telephony to broadband services.
Bharti Airtel said that it wanted to pass the benefits of withdrawing Access Deficit Charges [Operator had to pay to terminate a call on other network, mainly BSNL]. Also Bharti Airtel expects the Minutes of Usage to go higher in NLD/STD and roaming segments.
Vodafone India and Idea Cellular may not be able to respond to the offer immediately because of lack of NLD network. Reliance and BSNL will likely retaliate with competing offers to consumers.
In a separate development, Tata Teleservices, has achieved substantial share in key telecom markets such as Delhi, Kolkata, Rajasthan, Orissa and Bihar, by adding 9.2 lakh subscribers in the month of March.
