Tuesday, June 14 2005 20:05 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Telecom subscribers will soon have uniform rates across the country as 'One India', Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran said on Tuesday (Jun 14, 2005). When asked whether it implied doing away with STD rates and all calls becoming local, he said, "You are reading between the lines".

"The UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government will make sure that very soon we will have uniform rates within the country. We will have 'One India'. Calling within the country will be like calling within the State", Maran said in New Delhi at a conference.

A significant move aimed at bringing parity among all states in India, when it comes to telecom, the ministry has already removed such a difference, that existed only in the four states, due to historical reasons, he said.

Last month, DoT announced that calls between Chennai-Tamil Nadu, Kolkata-West Bengal, Mumbai-Maharashtra would be treated as local. Till then, calls between the three metro cities and their respective states and the two parts of UP were long distance ones and the consumers had to pay for roaming.

Under the new facility, calls from mobile-to-mobile and fixed-to-mobile have become local.