BSNL lowers fixed line rental to Rs. 180

The state owned fixed line telephony service operator BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) has announced reduction in the fixed line rental as the New Year arrived. The company is struggling to retain their huge customer base as the competition in the form of Reliance, Tata Indicom and Airtel has arrived and is luring people away from their services.

As per reports, BSNL is losing as many as 10,000 subscribers a day and this 28 per cent reduction in its fixed line tariff and lifetime pre-paid connections offers is being aimed to stop the loss in the customer base. The company calls this their new year gift to their 3.5 crore fixed line subscribers and the new maximum fixed line rental has been fixed at Rs 180 as against the existing Rs 250 for urban and Rs 210 in rural areas.

They would continue to offer 50 free calls and the tariff of Rs 1.20 for a three-minute call in this package. For the first time company suffered losing more number of subscribers than the new customers gained and this led to the company taking the drastic step of reducing the rentals of the fixed line telephone connections. BSNL plans to announce more new schemes in the coming days to lure in more customers.

BSNL CMD, Mr AK Sinha said in a statement: “We are making certain calculations and would announce a few more attractive schemes”. BSNL also joined the growing number of mobile service providers to offer lifetime incoming free schemes. The company also said that they are going to loose close to Rs 600 crore annually because of these reduced rental tariffs.