OneIndia plan receives good response

Bhaskar Hazarika

NEW DELHI: The budget proposal announced for the telecom sector may have jaded the spirit of the telecom operators, but subscribers are looking forward for migrating under the 'OneIndia' plan.

The much awaited OneIndia plan, which took off from today, saw many of the existing landline as well as mobile subscribers migrating to the new and cheaper plan.

R.S.P. Sinha, managing director, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), said that they have received good response from the existing subscribers who has shown much initiative to migrate to the new plan.

“Apart from the existing subscribers, new subscribers have also opted for this plan, which will allow subscribers to make STD calls at Re 1 per minute,” he said.

MTNL has recently crossed the 5.6 million subscribers till now. Sinha said that OneIndia plan is likely to add more subscribers to its base as the number of subscribers opting for this plan is increasing.

However, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) subscribers are not lying on the back seat. BSNL authorities informed that they have received a number of applications for migrating to the new plan.

However, the authorities denied revealing the exact number of subscribers migrating in to it. “We will release the number within a couple of weeks time as it is not available with us right now,” the officials said.

However, speaking on easing the congestion in the MTNL network after the launch of OneIndia plan the officials said that the to boost the mobile services in the national capital they have called for Rs 750 crore open tender for setting up 2 million GSM lines. On the BSNL front the PSU is likely to invite tenders for its 60 million GSM lines this month.

Even the private mobile operators have not yet announced any plans to compete with the OneIndia plan, sources in the telecom industry said Airtel is working on a plan to offer One India plan in the next two days.