And with the competition hotting up, and the consumers still not coming in as fast as they should have, in certain states -- Koshika has done it for UP, Bihar and Orissa -- cellular companies have lowered their rates to make them comparable with the regular land-line rates of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT). This has a little catch, the partly-refundable deposit for a SIM card is a whopping Rs 10,000 (Rs 7,700 is refundable), butyou can expect this to go down with increased competition. Koshika has also promised that once it gets more subscribers, it will better this package.

Falling in line with the tariff guidelines set by the TRAI, most operators - Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), DoT, private basic operators and private cellular operators have all slashed their rates.

The TRAI had recommended a hike in telephone rentals for all rural and urban subscribers, but owing to political compulsions, the DoT rolled the hikes for rural subscribers back. For urban subscriber, the limit for free calls had been reduced from 75 calls per month currently to 60 calls per month - but the outcry that followed forced the government to keep this unchanged - to the consumers' advantage. Besides, with a sharp reduction in STD and ISD rates, most consumers will benefit anyway.

The new rates for normal land line phones in urban centres will push up their rentals from the present Rs 190 per month to Rs 250 per month with a call every threeminutes instead of the five minutes earlier for people making more than 200 calls per month. For callers making less than 200 calls every month the rental will remain at Rs 190.

The STD rates which have been slashed by an average of 22 per cent, benefit callers calling areas between 51 to 200 km. For example, an STD call between Delhi and Ambala which earlier cost Rs 10 per minute will now cost Rs 5.40 per minute at peak time rates (between 0800 hours and 1900 hours).

There are three other slabs in STD rates based on the time of the day when off-peak concessional rates apply. Between 0700 to 0800 hours and 1900 to 2030 hours there is a 50 per cent off on all STD calls, between 0600 to 0700 and 2030 to 2300 hours there is a 63 per cent off (earlier one third rates were charged) and between 2300 to 0600 hours there is a 70 per cent discount (earlier one fourth was charged).

International call rates are also down substantially with the public sector Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) also slashing rates andalso giving callers an advantage of an off-peak rate between 1900 to 0800 hours compared with the earlier standard rate throughout the day. Calls to the US which earlier costed Rs 84 per minute will now cost Rs 60 per minute during the standard hours and Rs 51.45 in the off-peak hours.

Cellphone users can also expect a substantial reduction in their bills as airtime rates are down from the earlier Rs 16.80, Rs 8.40 and Rs 4.20 per minute to the new Rs 6, Rs 5.75 and Rs 4.75 per minute. However, rentals are up from the Rs 156 per month earlier to Rs 600 per month now. The real bonanza will however, come when all incoming calls on cellphones become free from August 1.