STD, ISD call rates to be slashed further -- Paswan

STD, ISD call rates to be slashed further -- Paswan

Dehradun, Jan 18: ISD and STD rates would be slashed further to promote a healthy competition among players in the telecom field, union telecommunication minister Ram Vilas Paswan has said.

From Jan 26, MTNL is starting its own mobile service in Delhi and Mumbai with half the rates being offered by other players in the field. For the outgoing call, he said MTNL will charge Rs 2.70 and Rs 1.50 for the incoming.

Paswan said all the villages in the country would be connected by telephones by 2002. "We have made an ambitious plan to connect every village in India with telephone facilities. We are nearing our goal and we have only 14 months left to complete it," he said.

He said all the 585 district headquarters of the country would also be connected with Internet. "An Internet revolution is taking place in India. Once these district headquarters are connected with Internet, it will be a big achievement," he said.

He said VSNL would soon begin a full-fledged mobile service all over the country.

"We are soon launching a mobile service all over India through VSNL. This service will be on the lines of the one to be launched by MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai," Paswan said.

He said Uttarnchal would get the mobile service in its first phase.

He said Uttaranchal has been upgraded to `B' category from `C' in terms of Internet service by VSNL.