Monday, August 8 2005 20:55 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Bharti Televentures, which offers cellular services under the 'Airtel' brand, today (Aug 8, 2005) refused to join the latest round of price war initiated by competitor Hutch, saying it believed in offering 'quality service'.

"We have no plans to lower tariff (for Airtel). We sell services on quality," Bharti Televentures President (Mobility) Manoj Kohli told reporters on the sidelines of announcement for its outsourcing deal.

He said the company already has various schemes, which are quite competitive.

Last week, Hutch had lowered STD charges by over 70 per cent for its Delhi subscribers, who it said could make long distance calls at the rate of 75 paise a minute from mobile to mobile but with a daily rental of just Re one.

The new scheme, however, does not include CDMA operators and two PSUs BSNL and MTNL. Earlier, Hutch's STD tariffs were Rs 2.64 per minute.

Hutch had also reduced the SMS rates in the night (from 10 PM to 10 AM) at 10 paise per message for its Delhi customers but with a Rs 25 rental.