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Vivek Law
Mumbai, Mar 26: The Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL) board on Friday decided to slash Internet-access charges by 15 per cent to bring them in line with those of arch rival Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL).
"The new rates would be applicable from March 16, the date when the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) allowed us to bring down the charges by 15 per cent," said VSNL acting chairman-cum-managing director Amitabh Kumar, shortly after the marathon board meet which will be carried forward to Saturday as well.
"Those who have taken an account after that date would be refunded the excess amount that they have paid," said Kumar.
VSNL has close to 250,000 Internet accounts opened with it. It had recently decided to slash rates for renewals by 20 per cent.
Prior to the 15 per cent cut, VSNL used to levy a charge of Rs 3,000 for 100 hours (now Rs 2,550), Rs 6,500 for 250 hours (Rs 5,525) and Rs 10,000 for 500 hours (Rs 8,500).
By bringing down the renewal charges, VSNL has strived to ensure that itsexisiting client base is untouched following competition. Now by bringing down the charges for new comers it has positioned itself so as to not lose fresh business on the basis of higher charges. MTNL had launched its services on February 9 with rates 15 per cent lower than VSNL's. MTNL has made a strong start and has already bagged more than 5,000 accounts.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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