Hello! The good times are rolling for telecom users in India. You can now talk, talk and talk. . . without worrying about huge, shocking bills. For the first time, you can call any landline or mobile number anywhere in India for just Re 1 a minute.

The much-awaited OneIndia plan is all set to become a hit as more and more customers queue up to take advantage of the Re 1/min calls.

Currently, the STD (standard trunk dialling) rates are charged at Rs 2.40/min anywhere in India. "We have received a good response for OneIndia. We are getting about 30 to 50 applications everyday from Borivili alone," says S A Ghadigaonkar, sub-divisional engineer, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.

So how do you avail of this facility? All you need to do is get a new MTNL/BSNL phone (landline or mobile) connection.

If you already have a connection, you can shift by giving an application form at your nearest MTNL/BSNL centre. It takes just two days to shift to a new plan, MTNL officials say. If you already have an STD connection on your phone, you still need to fill up a form and submit at your nearest MTNL/BSNL office.

Advantages of OneIndia

There is no charge shift to a new tariff plan. You need to pay a deposit of Rs 1,000 if your phone does not have an STD facility now. However, if you have a phone with STD at present, you need not pay any deposit.

• You can makes calls to fixed/WLL/mobile (own network) at Re 1 for 180 seconds.
• You can call any other mobile number at Re 1 for 60 seconds.
• You can call any STD number (landline or mobile) at Re 1 for 60 seconds.
• ISD (international call) rates have been slashed to as low as Rs 6 per minute for calls to the United States and the United Kingdom.

A peek into the OneIndia tariff

Disadvantages of OneIndia

• The rent will be hiked to Rs 299, irrespective of what rent you are paying now.
• There will be no free calls in this plan.
• A hike in the monthly rental is more than double the rental in some of the existing plans.
• Across the various plans, rents are quite low, and it is complemented with free calls depending on the plans that you have opted for. For instance, when you opt for a plan of Rs 500 you get 450 free calls.
• The charges on OneIndia will be applicable around the clock, there will be no off peak-hour discounts.
• There will be no discounts irrespective of the usage.

A comparison of all the tariff plans

OneIndia not for STD booths

The OneIndia plan is also not applicable to STD booths.

 The OneIndia plan is not applicable to MTNL phone cards, which most people who have a phone without STD facility use at present.

So it would be a good idea to switch to OneIndia plan if you spend make more STD calls in a month than local calls.

Hope OneIndia lasts and lasts and free calls in the plan are most welcome, say customers who have applied for OneIndia tariff.

Table: Source MTNL