Uninor slashes rates; to charge 20-50 paise per minute

NEW DELHI - Mobile services provider Uninor, a joint venture between India’s Unitech and Norway’s Telenor, Friday said it will charge customers as low as 20 paise and not more than 50 paise for one-minute call.

The company has introduced dynamic pricing concept under which its subscribers can avail discounts between 5-60 percent on their calls, depending on their location and the time when they call.

The offer — 24X7 Badalta discount plan — will be initially available to its users in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

“The new plan will not only help customers make significant savings on their bills, it will also help us utilise our network capacity better, which will help in traffic growth and revenue growth. The offer is being launched in three circles and will soon be extended to other circles where Uninor services are present,” Uninor executive vice-president (operations) Rohit Chandra told reporters here.

The plan is being launched at a time when tariffs in India are already at their lowest level — one paise per second.

Asked whether Uninor is initiating another level of tariff war, Chandra said: “We are not into tariff war.”

Uninor, in which Telenor holds 67.25 percent stake, has a pan-India licence to offer mobile services in each of India’s 22 circles.

Its services are at present available in UP, Bihar, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.