Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTE)

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MTNL set to grab 3G market with video calls

NEW DELHI, Oct 14, 2009 (Hindustan Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- MTE |

-- The government-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is all set to give private telecom operators a run for their calls in 3G services in Delhi and Mumbai . The company is offering video calls at 20 paise per minute for calls made to another MTNL subscriber. This is at least 50 per cent lower than tariff for plain voice call (2G service) offered by any operator.
Private operators are unlikely to offer 3G services before nine months as the bidding for spectrum has not yet begun. Taking its first-mover advantage, MTNL plans to capture the market by bringing down prices of both services and handsets before private players launch services.

It is also offering a handset bundled with its services at Rs 5,990 in a tie up with Micromax. The handset comes with MTNL 3G logo Jadoo. By bringing down prices for both services and handset, the company has set ambitious targets.

"We expect to reach a subscriber base of at least 500,000 by the end of this financial year," said R.S.P. Sinha, MTNL's chairman and managing director. The company launched its 3G services in February in NDMC area in Delhi and now has services all over Delhi, Gurgaon and NOIDA.

"By making 3G cheaper than 2G services, we want customers to get used to them," Sinha said. "I am looking for a critical mass. Our target is to acquire 100,000 subscribers each in Delhi and Mumbai by November 10."

Currently, the company is adding 2,500 subscribers daily in each city.

Sinha believes that data card -- a device that allows users to access the Internet from their computers -- is another killer application. Laptop computers from companies such as HCL Computers are being sold with MTNL 3G cards embedded in them.

The company expects to repeat broadband performance here. "When other were charging Rs 2,000 per month, we started with 499 and today we are offering at Rs 99 per month," Sinha siad. "Today we have more than 730,000 broadband subscribers and we are adding 800 customers daily. I expect similar explosion in 3G."

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