GSM majors Hutchison-Essar and Idea Cellular are joining the lifetime pre-paid price war, and have launched recharge coupons of Rs 495 each. This follows similar launches by Bharti Airtel (Rs 495) and Reliance Communications (Rs 499) on Thursday.
According to Hutch, the card will enable a user to receive free lifetime incoming calls and a talk-time of Rs 10. Local calls would be charged at Rs 1.99 per minute and STD calls at Rs 2.75 per minute. The company would provide full talk-time, minus the service tax, on every future recharge.
To stay connected, users are required to top-up with a minimum cumulative total of Rs 200 every six months.
Harit Nagpal, marketing director, Hutch said: "This is an economical and value-for-money offering which will ensure that our customers enjoy uninterrupted mobile connectivity over a long period of time with minimum investment".
Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla group company, has also launched a pre-paid calling card at Rs 495 with an initial talk time of Rs 10. The company�s customers can make local calls at Rs 1.99, while STD is priced at Rs 2.75 per minute. SMS messages are being priced at Re 1 for local, Rs 2 for national and Rs 5 for international.
Idea Cellular managing director Sanjeev Aga said, �With a large section of our customers in the pre-paid segment, the move was aimed at attracting more customers into the category".
Bharti Airtel, on Thursday, had launched a lifetime pre-paid card at Rs 495 becoming the first operator to break the price barrier. The GSM major is offering full talk-time on future recharges while a customer has to recharge a minimum of Rs 200 every 180 days to stay connected.
Reliance Communications followed suit with the launch of its lifetime validity recharge of Rs 499. The CDMA operator is providing a talk time of Rs 20 while the subscriber needs to recharge with a total of Rs 125 every three months to stay active.
The earlier lowest lifetime validity (before the recent launch) was from BPL at Rs 666. State-owned telecom major MTNL offers lifetime validity at Rs 999 while that of Tata Teleservices is priced at Rs 499.
According to Hutch, the card will enable a user to receive free lifetime incoming calls and a talk-time of Rs 10. Local calls would be charged at Rs 1.99 per minute and STD calls at Rs 2.75 per minute. The company would provide full talk-time, minus the service tax, on every future recharge.
To stay connected, users are required to top-up with a minimum cumulative total of Rs 200 every six months.
Harit Nagpal, marketing director, Hutch said: "This is an economical and value-for-money offering which will ensure that our customers enjoy uninterrupted mobile connectivity over a long period of time with minimum investment".
Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla group company, has also launched a pre-paid calling card at Rs 495 with an initial talk time of Rs 10. The company�s customers can make local calls at Rs 1.99, while STD is priced at Rs 2.75 per minute. SMS messages are being priced at Re 1 for local, Rs 2 for national and Rs 5 for international.
Idea Cellular managing director Sanjeev Aga said, �With a large section of our customers in the pre-paid segment, the move was aimed at attracting more customers into the category".
Bharti Airtel, on Thursday, had launched a lifetime pre-paid card at Rs 495 becoming the first operator to break the price barrier. The GSM major is offering full talk-time on future recharges while a customer has to recharge a minimum of Rs 200 every 180 days to stay connected.
Reliance Communications followed suit with the launch of its lifetime validity recharge of Rs 499. The CDMA operator is providing a talk time of Rs 20 while the subscriber needs to recharge with a total of Rs 125 every three months to stay active.
The earlier lowest lifetime validity (before the recent launch) was from BPL at Rs 666. State-owned telecom major MTNL offers lifetime validity at Rs 999 while that of Tata Teleservices is priced at Rs 499.