New Delhi, Feb. 3: Reliance Infocomm today slashed its local call rates but raised STD rates and SMS charges for its mobile phone service.

The company said the new tariff was based on the new interconnect user charge (IUC) regime.

The move is expected to impact users under its popular Economy 149 and Budget 149 plans. Subscribers under this plan can make local calls within the state to GSM phones at Rs.1.49 per minute. Earlier, calls to other GSM subscribers were charged at Rs.1.99. The new tariff will offer a saving of 25 per cent for calls to this category.

There is no change in calls to fixed-line phones over a distance of up to 500 km and will continue to be charged at Rs 3.99 per minute.

The STD calls in the 50-200 km and 200-500 km slabs have been increased by one rupee per minute. STD calls made by Reliance subscribers (under the Budget and Economy 149 Plan) to GSM phones will be charged at Rs 2.99 per minute. The calls to fixed lines have also been increased by one rupee.

Under the revised rates, the short message service (SMS) within India will now cost one rupee per message against 60 paise earlier.

SMS messages to international destinations will be charged at Rs 3 each.