Tuesday, May 17 2005 18:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Initiating another round of tariff war in the telecom sector, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) today (May 17, 2005) announced a major reduction in the international long distance call rates for Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Africa, Gulf and SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries to Rs 12 per minute from the existing Rs 18 a minute.

The new tariffs will come into effect from midnight of May 20, BSNL chairman and managing director A K Sinha said during World Telecom Day celebrations in New Delhi.

The reduced rates will be applicable from landline, cellular and WLL networks of BSNL, he said, adding the highest ISD tariff to any part of the world from BSNL network will be Rs 12 per minute.

BSNL also announced a hefty discount of up to 25 per cent on domestic bandwidth, which may result in reduction in broadband tariff.

The discount on domestic bandwidth would be applicable in 74 major cities, including all State capitals and Union Territories.