New Delhi, Nov 07: In the wake of festive season, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd today extended its reduced ISD tariffs to UK, USA and Canada till January 15, 2004 and also slashed tariffs for South East Asian countries. The international call rates to countries like Singapore Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand have been slashed to Rs 12 a minute from the existing Rs 21 with effect from November 14 and to be valid till January 15, 2004, CMD of BSNL, Prithipal Singh, told reporters here.
Last month, BSNL had reduced tariffs for UK to Rs 7.20 per minute from peak rate of RS 24 and to RS 9.60 to US, Canada and all European countries.
"Looking at the trends of increased traffic and festive season, we have decided to extend the offer by about two months besides including South-East Asian nations," he added.
In the country-wide cellular operations other than Delhi and Mumbai, BSNL has announced a bundling scheme wherein its cellular subscribers would have an option of getting their handsets financed on monthly installment basis.
The company has tied up with most of the leading cellular handset manufacturers including Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung. The monthly installment would range between Rs 170 to Rs 600 depending upon the type of handset, Singh said.
The company has also announced SMS services on fixed line phones beginning with two cities of Kolkata and Bangalore, he said adding this facility would be free of cost from fixed line to another fixed line phone of BSNL and its cellular phone.
Bureau Report