The scheme is expected to be launched next month. Under the scheme, customers who sign up for the company's Rs 3,000 per 100 hours service will not be charged the customary Rs 3,000 registration deposit for the line and will only have to pay monthly bills depending on the usage of the phone line.

Confirming the move, chief general manager MTNL (Delhi) AK Bhatnagar told The Financial Express that this was being done keeping in mind the need of consumers to have unlimited access to both the phone and Internet. "It becomes a problem for Internet users, who have just one line at home, to surf the net for longer periods," he said.

The economic rationale of the move can be gauged from the fact that customers will use one connection as a "voice" line and the second line as a dedicated"data" line. In turn, MTNL will get higher billings from both the lines, in addition to an upfront payment of Rs 3,050 for 100 hours access.

Bhatnagar said that with the facility, the number of hours of usage of Internet will go up as subscribers will surf the net for longer durations without disconnecting voluntarily or through the call waiting mode that automatically logs out a user from the Net on recieving an incoming call.

By leveraging its existing telephone network, MTNL will witness huge upsuge in demand for its Internet connections by leaps and bounds. The move also comes at a time when MTNL has already bagged a total of 10,000 customers in the two cities since February this year. The company has frozen new bookings for the time being and is in the process of putting in place additional 20,000 access lines in Mumbai and Delhi.

The company has targetted a customer base of one lakh each in Mumbai and Delhi by February next year, a number which many Internet market analysts feel will be crossedeasily. MTNL Internet service users have opined that the service provides fast access. "First time login rates are perhaps the best in comparison to other service providers" said sources.

In addition, the company is also planning to increase the marketing effort for pushing its Internet service christened "Bharat Online" and other value added services. The company is in the process of setting up a separate subsidiary to take care of these services.

MTNL had broken the monoply of Videsh Sanchar Nigma Ltd (VSNL) in February this year and became the second Internet service provider in Mumbai and Delhi. The ease of access is perhaps the best feature of the service, even as it needs to do more on the customer service front.