Airtel offers broadband services at dial-up rates — Unlimited downloads; no monthly rentals  ( July '26,2005, HBL)

IT could be the end of dial-up Internet access. Airtel Broadband & Telephone Services on Monday brought down the tariff for high-speed broadband services to Rs 30 an hour, which is the same that a consumer pays for a much slower dial-up Internet access.

The new package, called Delight 256, allows unlimited downloads at 256 kbps and comes with no monthly rentals, making it the cheapest broadband package in the country.

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, which has the largest broadband network in the country, offers a 256 kbps connection at Rs 500 a month with download limit of 1GB.

MTNL, which offers broadband in Delhi and Mumbai, offers same speeds at Rs 399 a month with a download limit of 400 MB.

Both companies said that they were constantly monitoring the market and would offer competitive rates to their customers.

The new tariff packages announced by Bharti would be available to Airtel fixed line customers in the northern region to start with.

"With the introduction of the new plans, Airtel has enhanced the tariff package offerings for its customers, thereby offering them more plans to address their unique needs. The initiative is aimed at boosting the penetration of broadband services in the country," said a press release.

In the northern region, Airtel currently provides broadband and telephone services in Delhi, Haryana, UP-West (Noida) and has over 52,000 DSL customers in the North.

The company at present offers broadband tariff packages in three categories — duration-based plans, volume-based plans and unlimited plans.

The Delight 256 tariff package is targeted at the casual Internet users.

The Night Surfing Top-up Plan is an add-on plan, which offers free night surfing to broadband customers at a nominal monthly tariff of Rs 49 only.

Existing customers can now avail of free night surfing, between 9 p.m. to 8 a.m., by topping-up their existing tariff packages plans with the newly introduced plan.

The plan is targeted at users who mostly access the Internet at night.