Bangalore: Hutchison Essar on June 19 announced the launch of its cellular services in Karnataka from June 24, under the recently launched unified pan-India brand Hutch.

Hutch cellular services would be available in Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore, Hubli and Dharwad, which form the majority of the cellular subscriber base in Karnataka, company Director Asim Ghosh told a news conference in Bangalore.

He said a single tariff plan and a host of innovative value added services, the first-ever in the southern region, would be offered.

The company was investing over Rs 1200 crore in this first phase of the southern project, Ghosh said.

Rajiv Sawhney, CEO, Hutchison Essar South, said under the single tariff plan called "TalkFlexi", there would only be one rental of Rs 275 applicable to all customers, which, he said, was as low as that of fixed line connection.

The airtime rate for both incoming and outgoing calls would be the same and would depend on the airtime used in a month. The more airtime a consumer uses, the lower will be the applicable tariff rate.

He said on-the-move Hutch users would be able to access emails, faxes and voicemails, anywhere in the world through their Hutch phone. This, he said, was possible for the first time in India through the Unified Messaging service, which is being launched in Karnataka.

Cellular customers in Karnataka would also for the first time have access to the largest roaming network spanning 100 countries across the world, he said.

PTI