New Delhi: Telecom company Bharti on April 22 announced upto 50 per cent cut in international long distance (ILD) telephony call rates.

A minute's call to US and American sub-continent, Europe and Africa and Oceania countries on Bharti's ILD service IndiaOne would now cost just Rs 24, Bharti Enterprise chairman and managing director Sunil Mittal told reporters.

The new rates proposed by Bharti have been cleared by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and are expected to be commercially launched from May 1, he said.

The peak calling rate for US and American sub-continent have come down from Rs 48 per minute last fiscal to Rs 40 per minute when long distance telephony services were opened for competition from April 1, 2002 and now to Rs 24 per minute on Bharti's IndiaOne network.

Similarly, peak calling rates to Europe and Africa and Oceania countries have come from Rs 40 per minute in March 2002 to Rs 31.3 per minute on April 1 and to Rs 24 per minute now proposed by Bharti.

For SAARC countries, the peak calling rates from India marginally declined from Rs 25.71 per minute in March 2002 to Rs 21.82 per minute from April 1, 2002 upon opening up of long distance telephony and to Rs 21.18 per minute on Bharti's IndiaOne network, Mittal added.

PTI