Stating this MTNL Delhi chief general manager AK Bhatnagar said that all policy issues had been addressed before the launch of the mobile services. "No favour has been shown to MTNL, in fact, 100 per cent of the revenue for STD calls made from a MTNL mobile phone will go to the Department of Telecom," he added.

Signalling MTNL's intentions to dominate the mobile services segment in Delhi and Mumbai using a combination of technologies, Bhatnagar said that MTNL's GSM-based cellular service would also take off by June 2000. GSM technology is used by all private cellphone companies and till recently was the de-facto mobile communication standard permitted for use in India.

Bhatnagar added that the code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile service would beexpanded fast. "We will offer 35,000 CDMA phones based on the wireless in local loop technology by March 2000," he said. The company has set itself a target of 50,000 CDMA mobile phone customers in Delhi and Mumbai.

Bhatnagar said that in the first phase, 9,000 connections would be provided till December 1999. Out of these, close to 6,500 connections will be offered as mobile lines, while the remaining 2,500 will be given as fixed lines in order to satisfy waiting list in areas where exchange capacity has been exhausted.

MTNL after a gap of more than two years opened its mobile telephones to the public on Saturday. Bhatnagar said the response had been tremendous and close to 500 phones would be handed out by Sunday evening itself.

On the issue of limited coverage of the phone, Bhatnagar claimed that the entire Delhi city would be covered by March 2000. "We will shortly install two more base stations (BTS) at Laxmi Nagar and Nehru Place to increase coverage," he said.

The coverage of the phone atpresent is limited to less than 60 per cent of Delhi. MTNL has installed five BTS at Janakpuri, Karol Bagh, Sanchar Bhavan, Bhikaji Cama Place and Delhi University area. The areas in 5 km vicinity have both indoors and outdoors coverage. For other areas like Delhi Cantonment, Hauz Khas and Tees Hazari the coverage is only on the streets.

The tariff plan for the MTNL CDMA mobile falls under the prescribed standard tariff structure. Subscriber will be charged Rs 1.40 per three-minute call and a monthly rental of Rs 600, which will reduce to Rs 475 from November 1, as per the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

All incoming calls are free, even before the November 1 deadline comes into effect. MTNL is charging Rs 10,000 as security deposit for the handset, which will be refunded in case the subscriber surrenders the connection. Bhatnagar added that though there was no charge for incoming calls, the same should not be confused with calling party pays (CPP) regime.

"Wedecided to charge only Rs 1.40 for every three-minute call after working out the cost per line and other expenses," Bhatnagar said. He added that with an investment of Rs 17 crore for 10,000 lines, the project would become viable soon.