New Delhi, Jan. 29: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) today unwrapped a bagful of benefits for its post-paid customers using the CellOne cellular mobile service that included a 33 per cent cut in SMS charges and the offer of free talk-time to loyal customers.

The company also launched two recharge coupons for its pre-paid customers using the Excel mobile service. The new schemes will come into effect from Sunday all over the country.

CellOne customers can now send a 160 character SMS for 40 paise as against 60 paise at present. However, there will not be any change in the SMS charge for the pre-paid service offered under the Excel brand.

The public sector telecom company also announced a customer retention offer by providing free talk-time worth Rs 75 every month to customers under the Rs 325 plan who continue with the BSNL service for six months. If the customer opts for a Rs 525 plan and continues as the BSNL subscriber for six months, it will offer free talk-time worth Rs 150 every month.

While these schemes will benefit 30 per cent of its mobile customers, BSNL announced two new recharge coupons for its pre-paid customers who constitute 70 per cent of its total mobile subscriber base.

The recharge coupons are scheduled to be launched on February 15. BSNL will offer a Rs 70 recharge coupon with a talk-time of Rs 38 and validity of one week, while the coupon price at Rs 150 will carry a talk-time of Rs 85 and validity of 15 days and a grace period of five days.

It has also slashed rentals for its limited mobile service offered under the Tarang brand bringing them at par with its fixed-line telephony rentals. The rental has been brought down from Rs 250 to as low as Rs 120 and Rs 180 depending on the exchange system. In some cases, it will remain at Rs 250.

The customers will also get 50 free calls per month, which was not available to these subscribers after Trai announced the new tariff package early last year. The caller line identification, which was made free from December 15 last year, will be extended to the limited mobile service.

V. P. Sinha, chairman and managing director of BSNL said, “The Tarang customers will get a benefit of Rs 190, which will come into effect from March 1.”

As a promotional offer, BSNL has extended the free installation of basic telephones to March 31. The scheme was valid till the month of February.

In order to attract the media and corporate houses BSNL has also simplified the leased-line tariffs thus reducing the annual charges ranging from 5 to 20 per cent.

BSNL today also launched the international roaming for its CellOne customers. The company has extended the 25 per cent discount on ISD calls to Haj pilgrims till March 31 and plans to extend such facilities for other pilgrimage programmes.