BSNL joins the ISD tariff war, call US Canada at 6 paise/sec

After a throat cut competition in STD call rates now ISD tariff reduction is the next target to capture thriving consumers of Indian Telecom industry. The latest to jump into this bandwagon is the state-owned BSNL, though with a higher tariff of six paise per Second ( 3.60 Rs. per minute ) to USA / Canada. Tata Docomo was the first operator to instigate ISD price war by a whopping reduction of 83 per cent, bringing ISD call equal to Local calls.

Unlike Region specific plans of other operators BSNL plans to launch its Universal India Telephone Card (ITC) at a slightly higher rate of six paise per second. In the States like punjab where one can easily make similar ISD calls in 1 paisa per second Success of BSNL ITC is doubtful.

According to BSNL officials, this card will be applicable for pre-paid, post-paid and landline users at the same tariff of six paise per second. “The call charges will follow the per-second tariff plan in the price band of 6p/sec pulse to 45p/sec for all ISD calls while all STD and local calls (anywhere in India) will be charged at 1p/second,” the official said. The pre-paid ITC card, also known as Virtual Calling Card, enables the user to make STD, ISD or local calls from any GSM phone or BSNL landli