'Landline rates should also come down'
We asked our readers if the recent rate cuts announced by both private and PSU cell operators would ultimately benefit the general public.
Reader opinion is divided. While a section feels that the rate cuts will definitely help the cell users, others feel that unless incoming calls are made free, the rate cuts will be nothing but cosmetic.
However, all agree that an average Indian will benefit only if the landline rates come down and people are able to use them more.
Here we reproduce some of the responses the query generated:
Wed Jan 8 09:27:14 2003
Name::Jagmohan Singh
Email::jagmohan_s@rediffmail.com
Your Views::Presently, general public will benefit more from cut in STD rates in landline connections. There is no reason why the STD rates should be so astronomically high as compared to local rates. They need not be more than twice the present local rates irrespective of the distance. They can easily be so, if the attitude is to have low margins and more volume to give even an higher revenue and better communication infrastructure.
Wed Jan 8 11:27:30 2003
Name::ravoofur rahman
Email::ravoof_ca@hotmail.com
Your Views::Yes, i think the rate cuts will help india as a developed nation in the area of communications. and it will lead the price change in internet and so on.
Wed Jan 8 13:38:15 2003
Name::Sameep Agrawal
Email::sameepAgru@hotmail.com
Your Views::Right now the public is still benefitting from these rate cuts which will come down further. Look at how much profit these companies used to make before the deregulation. It is time the companies paid for it and the common man benefits
Wed Jan 8 13:38:50 2003
Name::umesh kalhans
Email::umesh_kalhans@rediffmail.com
Your Views::they r fooling us by these scheme. They must have studied the details and that is why they have come out wuth thus idea. it fact they should reduce for local calls.
Wed Jan 8 13:39:36 2003
Name::Srinivas
Email::ceenu111@rediff.com
Your Views::Yes, Indeed the landline costs should also come down,coz soon people would stop using the landline instead go for a mobile which offers more services at a little extra cost.. so by lowering the landlines cost you can still hold some people and keep the plane flying..
Wed Jan 8 13:40:13 2003
Name::Ajit
Email::ask10000@rediffmail.com
Your Views::Not significantly, coz how many people go fo STD calls and to what extent. If rates actually drop for the local calls and incoming calls become free., then it would be a great thing.
Wed Jan 8 13:41:45 2003
Name::vikas
Email::cityheart@rediffmail.com
Your Views::in my view slash in price id\s quite harmful for me as i m a pco holder as my main socrce of income is from std calls so tell me what will i do
Wed Jan 8 13:43:17 2003
Name::Giri
Email::c_v_giri@rediffmail.com
Your Views::STD rates should not be slashed. Already the income earned by govt is not enough to run the nation. Also STD rates are not that high at present and a further reduction in the STD rates will not only bring about a reduction in national income but also will further increase the long waits before STD booths. Instead of cutting rates, the phone companies can maintain the current rates but pay more tax to the govt.
Wed Jan 8 13:44:53 2003
Name::SHIVASHANKAR
Email::shivashankar61@rediffmail.com
Your Views::general public willnot be benifitted from std rate cuts.the mobile should be parellel line along with land line connection,which means two in one.
Wed Jan 8 13:45:41 2003
Name::sandip
Email::sandip_n@rediffmail.com
Your Views::Yes DEfinately the General Public will Benefit from the Schemes
Wed Jan 8 13:46:36 2003
Name::amunshi
Email::amunshi@rediffmail.com
Your Views::Yes ! there should be a cut in rates . I wonder why all GSM providers were sleeping till the Reliance shock - Shock Therapy works .
Wed Jan 8 13:46:51 2003
Name::N.Krishnan
Email::nkrisnan@rediffmail.com
Your Views::We,the public as such would be very happen to welcome Reliance with open hands.The cut in STD rates (Mobile to Mobile)will in no way help the common man.Yes,the landline rates needs to be drastically cut,so that phones would be available to the poorest of the poor.BSNL and MTNL need to come up with major cuts in their tarrif's of landine and WLL phone's.They having such a good infrastucture need to come to the need of the comman man.They should also develop good customer support for them to stay in the market as a leader.BSNL's cellualr service in Hydearabad is quite poor with only the pre-paid excel being launched and that too with poor signal quality.All the aspects needs to be taken into consideration and see that BSNL puts up a good fight with private operators and put up a brave face.
Wed Jan 8 13:47:00 2003
Name::RAJESH JAJU
Email::rajeshjaju@sancharnet.in
Your Views::The Companies should charge a fixed rate of say Rs 1.00 / Call of 180 sec irrespective of the distance of the number dialed i.e. no STD all nation is local. This would definately boost the economy and in long run the companies will gain out of that. In mobile sector, the companies should charge a lump sum with no I/c & O/g airtime charges. This will automatically increase the usage enabling to higher revinues. The rate per pulse should be lower for persons with higher usage / month
Wed Jan 8 13:47:14 2003
Name::Ajay
Email::ajaymcs@rediffmail.com
Your Views::I am very happy with this. And will be more happy if incoming will be free thanks
Wed Jan 8 13:48:05 2003
Name::Vijayakumar
Email::mvk1000@yahoo.com
Your Views::No. Still Private Mobile Service Providers charging for incoming calls. And lot of hidden charges.
Wed Jan 8 13:48:11 2003
Name::Suman Kumar Bhattacharya
Email::suman_kbh@rediffmail.com
Your Views:: Competition have always done good for any consumer industry.Reliance have done wonders in the telecom sector in terms of competition...and giving the value of money to the consumer.But I think TRAI is not doing the right thing..they can be termed as 'anti-consumer' as they have forced Reliance to charge more for the local calls which was originally proposed by Reliance as 5 paisa per 15 seconds.TRAI forced Reliance to double the charge.Then what is the role of TRAI ? I personally will still like to see the landline STD rates also coming down.
Wed Jan 8 13:49:24 2003
Name::alwyn
Email::almoras@yahoo.com
Your Views::yes..i am..thi will boost the telecom sector..more people will go more mobile phones..and overall it is good for consumers
Wed Jan 8 13:49:33 2003
Name::drkannan
Email::kannansadagopan@rediff.com
Your Views::dear sir iam very happy middle classand poor people will benefit with this.and everybody buy this cellular phone.this will easy to communicate.the landline also must be slashed dr kannan
Wed Jan 8 13:50:05 2003
Name::Ajay
Email::ajaymcs@rediffmail.com
Your Views::landline should be less than mobile. thanks
Wed Jan 8 13:51:47 2003
Name::Shirish Karia
Email::skaria@vsnl.com
Your Views::These reduction is not enough unless they offer value added services viz. MMS, Internet on GPRS etc. About the land line rates, I feel that in the same exchange 3 minutes a call should not apply.
Wed Jan 8 13:53:04 2003
Name::kgskutty
Email::kgskutty@rediffmail.com
Your Views::the rich can afford mobile at any cost. actually the landline costs should be reduced. there is no guarantee that govt. will only bring down the cost. any time they can increase it from any midnight like petrol hike. thanks
Wed Jan 8 13:53:35 2003
Name::Sudhakar Singh
Email::susingh@ptc.com
Your Views::Yes landline costs also be slashed. If you see how much profit BSNL and MTNL was making before Jan 2002. They were implmenting their monopoly. Rates should be 1 rs /min max.
Wed Jan 8 13:53:35 2003
Name::Haranath Pinnamaneni
Email::haranathp@virtusa.com
Your Views::Land line rates are very high. Three minute pulse for local calls should be dealt with. It is relatively expensive to talk to your next door neighbor on land line than talking to your friend far away in metros.
Wed Jan 8 13:53:44 2003
Name::Amol T
Email::amoltipnis@rediffmail.com
Your Views::Not at all? Hardly ant subscribers for STD on mobile-to-mobile. They should cut the air-time cost. As far as the marketing strategy adopted by GSM operators against CDMA, i think CDMA is an advanced & proven technology. Those interested can read at: http://www.qualcomm.com/cdma/index.html Definitely landline cost must be cut. For incoming calls(esp. from landline to mobile), no landline cost should be charged as the caller is already paying the telephone company.
Wed Jan 8 13:54:43 2003
Name::BIREN D SHAH
Email::biren9@rediffmail.com
Your Views::I do not feel the general public will benefit from these rate cuts? Only Indian Market Reliance feel the general public will benefit from these rate.
Wed Jan 8 13:55:01 2003
Name::Shailesh
Email::shainet@hotmail.com
Your Views::Hello Sir The rates needs to cut more as indians could go ahead in the competition with world
Wed Jan 8 13:55:04 2003
Name::AMBRISH JULKA
Email::ambrish@indiatimes.com
Your Views::Yes, Gen. Pub will be benefited The rates should be slashed for landline also. As on date the key to success is dispensation of information at the quikest possible time with low rates. If indian economy wants to grow faster there is a necessasity of fast/low cost of communication channels. Regards, ambrishjulka
Wed Jan 8 13:56:26 2003
Name::Vinay
Email::vinay_tewari@yahoo.com
Your Views::Yaa, STD charges should be cut down, as they are charging much more if you compare to private cell operator, Re-think how are they charging only 2.99 per minute only if you don't add airtime charges. which is the only earning way for private cell operators once we make a STD.
Wed Jan 8 13:57:14 2003
Name::gsd
Email::zxcasd001@yahoo.com
Your Views::its good, landline costs also be slashed.
Wed Jan 8 13:57:18 2003
Name::ANSARI NAVED
Email::naved500@hotmail.com
Your Views::No I'm not happy with cuts in std rate,they should first reduce the airtime rates on local calls and provide free incoming calls. Reduction of std rates from mobile may cause harmful for std booth owners.
Wed Jan 8 13:58:45 2003
Name::Mukund Godbole
Email::msgodbole@rediffmail.com
Your Views::General Public demands a cut in Basic Telephony rates because Telephone is now a necesisty & not Luxury as thought by Goverment. Also MTNL is a profit making Organisation paying high divident to Government.
Wed Jan 8 13:58:46 2003
Name::Vinod sharma
Email::rajiv496@rediffmail.com
Your Views::If you run mobile phone service like western style,do learn something from the west and make all distance call for Rs.1 per minute with no hidden charge at all.m 2 m call should be absolutely free.betwwen 8pm to 7 am daily including half saturday and full sunday Those who are holding the authority,might have gone abroad to learn about telephone but learnt nothing and just enjoyed holidays at other's espense. If they have some common sense (which thet have not got), PROCEED methodically about mobile phone and not to change the charges weekly.
Wed Jan 8 13:58:51 2003
Name::Gaurav Raj
Email::er_gauravraj@rediffmail.com
Your Views::Its Telecom revolution, n each n every every industry under this sector has to involve itself into it. Even if only one of them does it, others have to follow. Naturally its going to be benificial more n more for the consumers as n of the process gets intensified. Being a general consumer n looking to our benifits any body from within the general public won't oppose it rather ask for more n more. But logically thinking.. there need to be limit for every thing. If its technology..it needs to be at a cost.
Wed Jan 8 13:59:16 2003
Name::Soumit Saha
Email::soumits@rediffmail.com
Your Views::This price war is not going to any good to customer. Everyone is trying to polarize customer affiliation to one single service. Healthy compitetion is going to stay if they concentrate on integrated service across different telecom service providers.
Wed Jan 8 14:00:05 2003
Name::anupam
Email::anupam_mandal@yahoo.com
Your Views::I feel land line STD rate also should be much more lower than mobile STD rate. Now can some one imagine how much BSNL has cheated to us in rates( Rs.24/min) before Bharati slashed the STD on mobile ?
Wed Jan 8 14:00:10 2003
Name::mobil
Email::mobil@rediff.com
Your Views::general public will not benefit from these rate cuts. cellular operators, including Bharti, Hutch, BPL, Escotel and AT&T should first announce all the incoming calls free. then only private cellular operators can survive in the market.
Wed Jan 8 14:00:28 2003
Name::ashutosh bhattacharjee
Email::b_ashutosh@rediffmail.com
Your Views::if the pulse become 60 sec (at present which is 8/16 sec for peak/offpeak hours for distance more than 500km) as proposed by mobile operators what will be the benefit for short duration call makers??now a call of 16sec/32sec duration to more than 500km distance costs Rs1.2/2.4 which becomes Rs2.99/2.99 as proposed by mobile operators. same thing happens for calls to distance range 50-200Km which costs more. so as per my view there will be no gain for customers. same thing for BSNL announced STD tariff.why it's for mobile to mobile why mobile to PSTN/landline calls will be charged as per normal one.i.e BSNL itself encourage people to move from fixed line phone to mobile?strange!!!!
Wed Jan 8 14:00:47 2003
Name::sujit
Email::nairboy40@hotmail.com
Your Views::bsnl/mtnl had to wait for reliance to come so as to cut cost. as such they dont have an additional cost they could have done it when they launched. again dropping rates by 19 ps was cheap show by bsnl/mtnl. as for pvt players also the govt agency has been cheating on the consumers the rate drop is to keep the existing customers hooked on to their service. ALL HAD TO WAIT FOR MR AMBANI TO LAUNCH HIS SERVICE. IT HAS SEVRED A WAKE CALL TO OTHERS
Wed Jan 8 14:00:50 2003
Name::c sunil bhandari
Email::csunilbhandari@rediffmail.com
Your Views::landline costs should be slashed unless local calls instead of 3 minutes it should be 15 minutes because local call is very usefull instead of std rates are slashed local call should be considered and all mobile should be free incoming call
Wed Jan 8 14:01:02 2003
Name::sundar
Email::bhavisundar@rediffmail.com
Your Views::While on the other side there is a news about people perishing in Cold weather in India, What is that technology development & Mobile Phone charges play in their life? When poors & farmers are starving for death Are we agreeing on deduction of Mobile Rates. In my Opnion Mobile charges should be increased and the same should be used for Food grain subsidy which the Govt is reducing every year. Any one who is interested in the the welfare of the people will do this only. But unfortunately we do not have leaders to care for this. Let us come forward to contribute our best for the people who starve to death & perish in cold rather than discussing on all these issues. Of course I am interested in the development of the Nation and in my views development of the nation means development of poors life and not the richs' life.
Wed Jan 8 14:01:11 2003
Name::Sameer A Shaikh
Email::samsk74@yahoo.com
Your Views::I am not at all happy with the STD rate cutes announced by the cell service providers. As earlier when I used to call pune I used pay only Rs. 1.20 in the off peak hours and 2.6 in peak hours. Now, I have to pay more than double when I make a call to pune during off peak hours. I think its a stupid move.
Wed Jan 8 14:02:04 2003
Name::Faruq Hussain
Email::faruq_h@rediffmail.com
Your Views::I guess what reliance WLL offer it is still far more better than Local Mobile Companies i still prefer to pay 40 paise per min for mobile2mobile rather than paying 2.90 per min so Reliance offer is the best in all ways STD or local.
Wed Jan 8 14:02:51 2003
Name::john
Email::jhh2000@rediffmail.com
Your Views::yes these rates will surely bring about the cell-revolution......But the incoming charges shud be made freee for both prepaid and postpaid mobile to mobile...
Wed Jan 8 14:03:38 2003
Name::Origeti Loui Heelis
Email::heelis@rediffmail.com
Your Views::Due to the competition of Cell Phone market Tata or Airtell or Hutch or reliance will reduce the rate to attract the public to come to their forld. It is only because to increase their business. But the general public will not use the Cell Phones always. The common man is now inneed of the reduction of the Land line Telephone bills. The B.S.N.L. or Tata may not be in favour of reducing the Lnadline Phones tarrif because there won't be any increse in the market of the Cell phones. In my view it is better if the tarrif for the Land line phones are reduced the General Public will be benifited. Especially the Rentals should be reduced to help the general public. Hope you will note.
Wed Jan 8 14:03:52 2003
Name::ankur garg
Email::ankur173@yahoo.com
Your Views::I think that all india should me made local,and internet access should be bundled in the connection package itself. and the services should be world class.
Wed Jan 8 14:04:01 2003
Name::nitin
Email::nicks1900@hotmail.com
Your Views::i am not so happy with std rate cutting , i need incoming should be total free.
Wed Jan 8 14:04:02 2003
Name::Anoop
Email::anoopjv3@rediffmail.com
Your Views::i am not so happy. there is no reduction in airtime
Wed Jan 8 14:04:02 2003
Name::ankur garg
Email::ankur173@yahoo.com
Your Views::I think that all india should me made local,and internet access should be bundled in the connection package itself. and the services should be world class.
Wed Jan 8 14:04:19 2003
Name::Shankar Narayan
Email::shankarnarayan76@rediffmail.com
Your Views::This only shows how much our good old BSNL and MTNL extorted money from us in the name of socialism. This is the what you call state sponsored terrorism. I strongly feel that BSNL and MTNL should return all that money to its customers. This is also a strong message to all those out there to let the market determine the players, price, technology, everything.
Wed Jan 8 14:04:19 2003
Name::Shailesh Chitre
Email::shaileshchitre@rediffmail.com
Your Views::Let the consumer benefit for the first time in India. We have been dished out substandard services and made to pay for the pensions and bonus of the state emoployees with rude behaviour. Its time let the consumer be the King.
Wed Jan 8 14:04:23 2003
Name::Annamalai
Email::annamalai77@yahoo.com
Your Views::its good that the prices are getting slashed b'coz of the reliance group. but still it will be nice if the local call rates also get slashed and also the cost of the cells should also be slashed for more customers to join the club of cell users.
Wed Jan 8 14:04:42 2003
Name::Dinesh Shetty
Email::dinesh_shetty682@hotmail.com
Your Views::If india want's to take advantage of its consumer market slashing all the rates will bring inn growth to the country as a whole, with many of the companies already setting up their call centers in India. I also think public sector telcom firms should be sued, since although they could afford such lower rates they have been looting the people for so many years with their exorbitant rates.
Wed Jan 8 14:04:49 2003
Name::Jayakumar
Email::tkjay@rediffmail.com
Your Views::STD rates on land line should be slashed to 1/10 of present cost Local call should be 5 min duration pulse. Internet timing should be Rs 5 per hour.
Wed Jan 8 14:05:46 2003
Name::akash
Email::akashdesai@rediffmail.com
Your Views::dear sir, with the launching of Indiamobile we,the customers can now be called the king.now we realise how much more we were paying..ofcourse with the ratecuts the GSM customers are going to be benefited but what about the landline users ? they contribute a major part of the population who dont use mobile phones ..so they should be equally benefited and not deprived..if the landline to mobile and landline to landline std rates are slashed further i`m sure we will see a revolution in the telecom sector...with the present slashes from rs 9 to rs 2.99 (mobile to mobile STD)i am sure a major part of the mobile users are not bothered as M TO M STD callers are not many ( i am no analyst so i dont have the exact figure in % )... these were my views as a consumer who uses a mobile as well as a landline phone (and a reliance phone for sure in the coming month )
Wed Jan 8 14:05:51 2003
Name::Girish
Email::girishg1@yahoo.com
Your Views::Yes, Land Line cost also should come down else people will shift to mobiles as it woudl be chaper to communicate thru mobiles
Wed Jan 8 14:08:01 2003
Name::P Venkateswaran
Email::p_venkateswaran@hotmail.com
Your Views::Simple, there are more land lines with better coverage esp. in rural areas. Hence slashing of landline costs will be better appreciated.
Wed Jan 8 14:08:08 2003
Name::P Venkateswaran
Email::p_venkateswaran@hotmail.com
Your Views::Simple, there are more land lines with better coverage esp. in rural areas. Hence slashing of landline costs will be better appreciated.
Wed Jan 8 14:08:56 2003
Name::Hanmantha Reddy
Email::mhreddy@rediffmail.com
Your Views::It is not enough if private cellular operators slash their mobile to mobile STD rates and BSNL & MTNL slash their mobile to mobile & mobile to landline STD rates. The fact that all these operators slashed the rates implies that they have all through been capable of slashing the rates. But they never cared to do it because there was no competition. All these years we the common men were shelling out our hard earned money to the coffers of these big companies, increasing their toplines and bottomlines. It is now time these companies offered the right prices to the customers. In this light, what is done recently (partial slashing of STD rates) is not sufficient. It is time the consumers got the right value for their money. All the cell phone operators should slash all STD rates. And all the basic service operators too should slash all STD rates.
Wed Jan 8 14:11:03 2003
Name::Prasanta Datta
Email::prasanta.datta@usa.net
Your Views::Land line STD calls should have been reduced far below by now. The sustain able rate for STD calls beyond 100KM should be flat rate no more than than Rs 1.5 per minute. They have the advantage of long depreciated network and can really play that power to win the race. If BSNL fails to do so, they will sustain a short term loss and in the long term through consolidation rates will stabilise.
Wed Jan 8 14:11:08 2003
Name::K.Senthil Kumar
Email::hellomrsenthil@yahoo.com
Your Views::yes really public benifits lot from it, if reliance come into action all citizen much become happy than now, they offering mobile based shop soon
Wed Jan 8 14:11:10 2003
Name::Laxmikanth M S
Email::laxmikanth.ms@sonata-software.com
Your Views::There is no need to slash down LandLine Cost... Mobile Operators should join together and fix a nominal rate with incoming free all time....there should very small substantial increase in amount compared to LandLine for calls made laxmikanth
Wed Jan 8 14:11:32 2003
Name::tnsrinivasreddy
Email::tnsrinivasreddy@rediffmail.com
Your Views::THE cut in mobile rate will benefit only people living in big city and rich people at present because the cost of hand set is more The landline cost like rental shold be less and the call rate should be less 0.80pasia up to 500 calls including 150 free then from 301 1 re/call and the there should be no STD FOR 500KM range it should be local call then it will be better
Wed Jan 8 14:11:39 2003
Name::yash
Email::YASHIKR@YAHOO.COM
Your Views::I think the RATES FOR THE LANDLINES SHOULD BE SLASHED BCOS INDIA IS STILL NOT VERY CELLULAR COUNTRY AND THE AVERAGE INDIAN WILL GET EFFECTED ONLY BY GETTING DOWN THE STD RATES FOR THE LAND LINES SO THAT PEOPLE WILL USE THEM MORE AND MORE REVENUE IS GENERATED.
Wed Jan 8 14:11:47 2003
Name::Rohit Bhatnagar
Email::rohitbh19@indiatimes.com
Your Views::Yes i feel that general public must be happy for these custs but Landline costs must be redused bcause most of our telephones are used in landline and internet connections too thats why it must be reduced
Wed Jan 8 14:12:25 2003
Name::Praveen Nagaraju
Email::praveen76@msn.com
Your Views::The GSM mobile tariff is still high & the best part is that the companies are trying to fool the users like the STD rate cut for eg. when the actual cost would be 5bucks per min. they are trying to project only the STD charge which is 3bucks. Also the other thing the Mobile industry is trying to do by announcing that they want to dealt blow on rivals in installments is to try & prevent the existing users from subscribing to the Reliance scheme. I doubt if there is going to be any further cut in tariffs. The GSM industry has always fooled its customers in the past & is trying to continue the same which will be a major cause of their downfall.
Wed Jan 8 14:12:37 2003
Name::KAUSTUBH ABHYANKAR
Email::kaustubhsa@rediffmail.com
Your Views::RELIANCE HAS THE EXCELLENT NETWORK, & WILL ALWAYS GIVE LOWEST RATES. RELIANCE HAS HISTORY OF PROVIDING EXCELLENT SERVICE TO ITS CUSTOMERS. NO ONE CAN COMPETE WITH RELIANCE INDIA MOBILE!!
Wed Jan 8 14:21:40 2003
Name::Pawan Talwar
Email::talwarpawan@rediffmail.com
Your Views::It is good that there is rate cuts, but landline costs should also be slashed as mobiles phones though has become common but it is still in the hands of upper class people, where as landline is owned by the common people. this segment of the people should be benifitted and not the upper class people. Landline phones has now become neccesity and the cost for this should be slashed.
Wed Jan 8 14:21:49 2003
Name::Srinivas
Email::srini130@rediffmail.com
Your Views::This is noway going to stop the migration of people from std mobile connections to either reliance or BSNL mobile connections. People around me are eagerly waiting for the next of BSNL connections...
Wed Jan 8 14:22:03 2003
Name::Anantha Reddy
Email::reddyinturi@rediff.com
Your Views::iam happy with new ratws.
Wed Jan 8 14:22:42 2003
Name::Seetharaman.A
Email::a_seetharaman@rediffmail.com
Your Views::Absolutely No
Wed Jan 8 14:22:49 2003
Name::Amar Chandra Gupta
Email::guptaamar@rediffmail.com
Your Views::Sir, I think since the CDMA technology is coming in the market there we don't require Landlines We are expecting frommobile companies like Airtel,Hutch and Idea will also compete with Reliance tariff like all incoming calls on Mobiles should be free or may be rental of Rs.200 per month with incoming calls,SMS and Net Access will be free. Due to poor services of public sector telecom companies like BSNL,MTNL landlines are not reqd Thnks & Regards Amar Gupta
Wed Jan 8 14:23:06 2003
Name::MURUKESH M S
Email::EMMESSEM@REDIFFMAIL.COM
Your Views::HI, WHEN THERE IS A COMPETITION IN THE MARKET FOR ANY CONSUMER ORIENTED FRODUCTS, THE CUSTOMER IS THE ULTIMATE WINNER. HERE, REACTING TO THE CDMA AND GSM PRICE WAR, STSTE OWNED COMPANIES LIKE BSNL HAVE COME OUT WITH GOOD RATES - WHICH FAILED TO MEET THE EXPEXCATITON OF THE INDUSTRY. THIS CANNOT BE REGARDED AS A PRICE CUT, BECAUSE, WHEN A CUSTOMER STICKS TO A PSU, WHEN THERE IS MUCH BETTER OPTIONS FROM PRIVATE PLAYERS, THE GOVT. SHOULD MAKE SURE THAT IT CAN RETAIN THE CUSTOMERS AS WELL AS COMPETE WITH THE PRIVATE PLAYERS TO GAIN MORE CUSTOMERS. I EXPECT A BETTER TARIFF FROM BSNL FOR BOTH MOBILE AND LANDLINE CONSUMERS, AND I AM SURE THAT MOMENT WILL TURN UP SOON. THANK TOU.
Wed Jan 8 14:23:09 2003
Name::Navin Jain
Email::navin@msn.com
Your Views::Of course, the general public will benefit greatly from the rate cuts. In India, the telecommunication rates are artificiallly jacked up so that the public sector companies can report hundred/thousands crores as profits. Their selfishness continues in the form of high inter connect charges and lousy policies which are proving to be the deathknell of the cellular companies. I hope that TRAI will come out with a suitable solution to this industry wide issue, and help all the companies with the different technologies to survive.
Wed Jan 8 14:23:16 2003
Name::dr ajay k tripathi
Email::drajay_t@hotmail.com
Your Views::the cellular cos. are supposed to cut incoming call rates-they may be either free or at the nominal cost. i dont think that by slashing std rates general public have much benefits..as most of us use mobile for city connectivity.the landline std/isd rates mustbe more or less same as mobile rates.
Wed Jan 8 14:23:29 2003
Name::Pramod
Email::pramod_kejriwal@rediffmail.com
Your Views::The telecom scenario in India is about to explode with new technology and stiff competition. The general public to benefit needs to be provided with various option and should be allo
Wed to use the carrier of their choice. People at large will only benefit if the local rates are slashed and even made free. All incomming calls should be made free and cellular operators should be asked not to charge any PSTN charges on local cell-to-mobile calls. Only then will Indian telecom sector can witness projected growth and increase the current very low tele-density.
Wed Jan 8 14:23:34 2003
Name::M.V.Nagasai
Email::mvnagasai@rediffmail.com
Your Views::The rates are OK, but the rentals are still high and not in reach of common man. Telecom has to become a affordable to common man. If the rentals are reduced it will be very useful for middle class people. The land line charges also need to be reduced, then only people will go for them. Else there is a chance that people will shift from land line to cellulars. Which is not a good sign for telecom. In case of mobiles all the incoming calls need to be made free. That is the first thing people are expecting first. Then air time need to be reduced considerbly. The call from land line and call from cell should not have much difference.
Wed Jan 8 14:23:53 2003
Name::anjeline daniel
Email::annu_da@rediffmail.com
Your Views::Yes, landline costs should also be slashed. It will help the middle class, as nowadays there are hike in every possible things consumed by middle class. Its hard to survive in low salary and high standard of living. Expenditure should co-relate with income. A middle class family can afford good standard of living only if 2 or 3 members are working and the salary of one person entirely goes for paying electricity, water, telephone, rent etc. And in the other member's salary, they have to eat and save for their future. I appreciate wholeheartedly, the attempt made by Ambani's to see through the heart of common man who have lots of desires but which remains a dream.
Wed Jan 8 14:23:53 2003
Name::Parthasarathy
Email::callpartha@rediffmail.com
Your Views::No Not at all, 2.99 Rs makes no difference. I think they should take off the Incoming call rate or reduce that much!
Wed Jan 8 14:23:55 2003
Name::ashish BHala
Email::ash_u_r@rediff.com
Your Views::In my view incoming has to be made free & SMS too. outgoing has to be reduced
Wed Jan 8 14:23:59 2003
Name::Mrigank Sharma
Email::mriganks@rediffmail.com
Your Views::Yes the General Public will gain from the slashing of STD rates. As long as the Private Company's are doing it it is fine. It's their own money and they are free to do what they want. But not when the Public Sector Company's do it. It is the General Public's money, which they are throwing away just to show that they are competitive. Only if they can prove that they will show profits should they reduce the rates. Classic example is MTNL getting into the ISP game by slashing the dial-up connection rates. It created a virtual bloodbath amongst ISP's when VSNL and SIFY also had to reduce their rates. In the process besides MTNL so many ISP's lost money and many had to shut shop. Till now dial-up connections are not profitable for ISP's. Those MTNL Executives who took such rash & idiotic decisions should be put behind bars for squandering General Public's money. Let them prove that they had taken that decision after proper evaluation of the market & not a stupid knee jerk reaction. Similarly, the Power's that be should first take a proper guarantee from the Sr. Executives of BSNL and MTNL that this current decision of theirs will result in profits & not loses.
Wed Jan 8 14:24:02 2003
Name::Varun
Email::varun_airi@eudoramail.com
Your Views::Sir, I am from punjab and working as software engineer at Bangalore. These rate cuts have certainly come as a welcome step for me. As it used to cost a lot for me to talk to my parents at punjab over my mobile phone as i used to call them 3-4 times in a week. but with the cut in rates of STD talking is not that heavy on my pocket. So I think its a great offer and people like me will certainly benefit.
Wed Jan 8 14:24:15 2003
Name::Parthasarathy
Email::callpartha@rediffmail.com
Your Views::No Not at all, 2.99 Rs makes no difference. I think they should take off the Incoming call rate or reduce that much!
Wed Jan 8 14:24:22 2003
Name::Vinod Agarwal
Email::vinod@vinod.com
Your Views::Rates should go still down. It should be free in fact.
Wed Jan 8 14:24:53 2003
Name::raj
Email::rajsjunk@yahoo.com
Your Views::its actually nice but i'm sure there will be some hidden cost behind all this.
Wed Jan 8 14:24:53 2003
Name::NITIN KOTHARI
Email::syminfo@rediffmail.com
Your Views::This days, people are more discussing mobiles fares rather than daily chores. Indian Govt. should think about public distribution system, water, electricity, education and basis necessity of the people. Good communication policies at this stage has less effect on economy of the country. Rate Cut in the mobiles are going to help upper middle class people only. Lower class people does not have any advantage out of this. I myself inspite of having 4 mobiles for family, does not like policy of the govt. to make these sector too competitive.
Wed Jan 8 14:25:35 2003
Name::SRIDHARAN
Email::sridharan_family@rediffmail.com
Your Views::Yes definetly the landline cost would also be slashed. This will benefit indian financial position to grow more. This will netralise the rich and poor. If we will competit with world market the repee value will alro raise.
Wed Jan 8 14:25:35 2003
Name::JAY
Email::energy_jay@yahoo.com
Your Views::the rate cuts are absolutely of no use to general public, cutting std/ long distance call rates will not make a common man happy. i hope the telephone department and the mobile operates will reduce their tariff for local purpose or atleast make the incomming calls free, so that they would gain more customers as well as general public will be happy.
Wed Jan 8 14:25:35 2003
Name::Nisha Sodhi
Email::nisha_sodhi@rediffmail.com
Your Views::According to me this would not at all benefit the general public, this is just another propaganda to sell one's product. The interest of the public is almost ignored. Incase MTNL and BSNL really want to make a difference landline costs shouls be slashed as the number of people using landline is much much more than that of the number of those using mobile phones. It hardly makes any diffrence.
Wed Jan 8 14:25:39 2003
Name::Nisha Sodhi
Email::nisha_sodhi@rediffmail.com
Your Views::According to me this would not at all benefit the general public, this is just another propaganda to sell one's product. The interest of the public is almost ignored. Incase MTNL and BSNL really want to make a difference landline costs should be slashed as the number of people using landline is much much more than that of the number of those using mobile phones. It hardly makes any diffrence.
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