To give its services an edge over the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited and avoid congestion, the MTNL has decided to maintain a ratio of 1:10, that is, one line to ten subscribers. Initially, the service will be made available to 5,000 subscribers only on a first-come-first-served basis. But the number is likely to increase to 20,000 in the next two months and to about a lakh by the end of this year, depending on the response and the availability of lines, Raman said.

The enthusiasm among the applicants was evident with subscribers crowding the counters with demand drafts within the first fifteen minutes of the launch. The subscribers were handed their passwords as soon as they handed in their applications. The connections, they were told, could be activated within half an hour of logging in. Raman said that only the first 120 subscribers would be given their password today. In case there were more applicants, their connections would be activated by tomorrow. The tariffs are less than those offered by the VSNL with the MTNL Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) costing Rs 2,550 for 100 hours; Rs 5,525 for 250 hours and Rs 8,500 for 500 hours, besides a registration fee of Rs 500.

The Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) connection could be availed at the cost of Rs 4,675 (64 kbps) and Rs 9,350 (128 kpbs) for 100 hours; Rs 10,625 (64 kpbs) and Rs 21,250 (128 kbps) for 250 hours and Rs 16150 (64 kpbs) and Rs 32,300 (128 kpbs) for 500 hours. For the Leased Line connection, the registration fee charged by the MTNL for 64 kpbs port is Rs 6.2 lakh, plus a registration fee of Rs 20,000. For the moment, the MTNL will be using the VSNL gateway for international access.

And to make its services more customer friendly, the MTNL has set up a special customer Service Centre at Khurshid LaL Bhavan, Janpath, besides a special round-the-clock Help Desk (3723172) with hunting facility.