BSNL is looking to rapidly gain new customers by cutting down its mobile calling rates by up to 80%. The reduced tariff is only valid for the first 2 months of subscription.
Anupam Shrivastava, the BSNL Chairman and Managing Director, told PTI the company has improved its infrastructure. The 80% reduction for new consumers is its way of encouraging people to give its revamped services a trial run. Under the new scheme, the government-backed entity will offer patrons the choice of either a Rs 36 per second plan or a Rs 37 per minute one.
Customers choosing the former are set to be charged 1 paisa for every 3 seconds on local and national calls made to BSNL numbers. Calls to individuals outside its network will cost 2 paisa for every 3 seconds. Users of the Rs 37 plan have to pay 10 paisa per minute for local and STD communications within the BSNL system and 30 paisa per minute for outside operators.
BSNL recently began monitoring the complaints it received on social media following a notice sent to it by Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to improve its poor services. The brand has further hired Aegis BPO, an external agency, to handle subscriber complaints. The service provider recently reported profits of Rs 672 crore for the current financial year.
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Prasad had previously stated this is the first time in 5 years BSNL was announcing positive numbers. It’s mobile user base stood at Rs 79.6 million by the end of September 2015, the figure helping it to find a place among the top 5 operators for new subscriber additions. The firm claims roughly 157564 individuals joined its network during the months of July to November, even as 124158 people left it.