Bhaskar Hazarika

NEW DELHI: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's (BSNL) 'OneIndia' Scheme, which will bring the tariffs for long distance calls within the country on par with local calls, will be announced tomorrow.

The OneIndia Scheme, slated for a Januray 1 launch, was delayed due to some initial hiccups. This delay came as a blessing for Reliance Infocomm, which launched the Re 1 STD per minute scheme as a New Year gift to its subscribers.

The Department of Telecom had convened a meeting with the officials of various telecom circles on Tuesday evening for finalizing the plan tomorrow. According to the DoT, the concept of India One would play a significant role in market expansion.

“The main reason for the delay in the OneIndia plan was due to the fixed access deficit charge (ADC) being paid to BSNL for providing rural telephony. DoT had been entrusted with the task of finalising details about the plan, which has been almost completed and ready for rollout. The plan will be rolled-out on Republic day,” the source said.

Meanwhile, other service providers including Airtel and Tata Teleservices are also in the process for offering similar schemes. It is likely that some of the operators may announce them on January 26.

BSNL has been awarded by Golden Peacock National Award – 2005 in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility instituted by the Institute of Directors, on the occasion of the inauguration of '16th World Congress of Quality'.

SD Saxena, director (Finance), BSNL, received the award from Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

These awards is for excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility for giving attention to social and environmental concerns in addition to economic goals and encourage companies to balance financial profits, economic value addition and social good.