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Hutchison cuts mobile rates in Delhi

Mobile phone operator Hutchison Essar said on Friday its customers in New Delhi, the nation's biggest cell phone market, would now have free incoming mobile calls from its own network and that of its affiliates.

India's mobile industry, flagbearer of its fast-growing telecoms sector, is in a price war as money-losing cellular firms battle it out to win more customers and increase market share.

"This move will be a catalyst to growth of the market the capital," Sudershan Banerjee, chief executive officer at Hutchison Essar, which has 500,000 customers in the metropolitan city-state, told Reuters.

"There's a potential market of four-five million consumers in Delhi, which has the highest per capita income in the country, in whose minds a chargeable incoming call was a big hitch."

Hutchison Essar is the Indian unit of Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa conglomerate.

Hutchison users in Delhi, which has two other mobile firms, will now be able to roam on its network at Rs 1.49 for every minute and send each roaming SMS (short message service) for a similar price.

Both costs have been halved from earlier levels and the new tariffs will be effective August 5.

But roaming and SMS charges on competitor networks will continue to be charged at Rs 3.

Hutchison earlier announced a similar package for customers in Mumbai. It also has a presence in Chennai, Kolkata Karnataka Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

Hutchison said customers of BPL Communications, one of the four mobile operators in Mumbai and in the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu were also a part of the new plan.

There are a combined 1.6 million Hutchison mobile users in India where cellphone customers total 7.4 million. The industry expects 12 million connections by year-end and 50 million by 2006, making India one of the top five markets globally.

The slew of price cuts were sparked after mobile firm Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd, market leader in Delhi, entered the Mumbai market last month with a number of innovative offers to grab market share.

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