MTNL not to hike its tariff

State-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) will not raise its call rates even though leading telecom operators hiked their tariffs last week. The company has decided not to hike tariff in the backdrop of the industry trend of increasing call charges.

Further, MTNL which offers services in Mumbai and Delhi will continue to take many other measures to benefit its customers in future. The telecom operator also launched new plans, including home zone plan under which a customer will be offered reduced call charges of 1 paisa per 4 seconds. The company also launched new value added services, including video calling content by Percept Knorigin and mobile TV by DigiVive.

Last week, leading telecom operators including Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone increased their tariffs on their pre-paid plans in select regions recently. The industry's margins were being hammered with the entry of new players and the ensuing tariff wars along with the high priced bidding for 3G auctions. Bharti's move gave a break to the cut-throat competition among telecom operators offering dirt cheap tariffs.