Telco tariff war on

The great Indian telecom tariff war seems to be escalating. Tata DoCoMo triggered the latest round by offering calls at one paisa per second resulting in new as well as established players slugging it out to launch similar offers at break-neck speed.

CDMA player Sistema Shyam Teleservices will announce per second billing when it enters Delhi this week and will introduce it in all the circles where it launches operations. India’s third-largest operator Vodafone Essar is currently testing the waters in the Madhya Pradesh circle, Aircel Cellular has opted for the per second offer in five circles and is likely to extend it to Delhi soon.

Sistema, which offers services under the MTS brand, has chosen per second billing as its entry strategy to ensure it is able to get fast traction in the lucrative Delhi circle. “Power of 1 (the plan’s brand name), combined with free one million seconds on our networks , will bring in high average revenue per user (ARPU). Revenue generation is what we are focusing on right now,” Sistema Shyam president & CEO Vsevolod Rozanov told ET.

Sistema needs to acquire around 30 million users in the next three years to breakeven and the per second billing will be an important plank of the strategy to meet that target. “We clearly see that at this stage, we are aiming at breaking even. We believe that these kind of offers will support our ambitious targets,” he added. Sistema will be the first operator to offer the service in the lucrative Delhi circle. DoCoMo has, till now, launched it in nine circles.