A woman uses a newly-installed payphone on Monday. Picture by Biju Boro

May 10: City residents who make frequent calls from public call offices (PCO) will now save some money as the one rupee coin-operated payphone has finally reached Guwahati.

For a local call of 90-second duration, the caller will have to pay one rupee in an automatic coin telephone system (ACTS) while in the conventional PCOs one has to cough up Rs 2 for a call of the same duration.

The pulse rate for a call to a mobile phone from ACTS is 90 seconds while in the PCOs the pulse for a similar call is only 60 seconds, which gives a benefit of 30 seconds to the ACTS user.

However, one drawback of the new system is that it accepts only new one rupee coins.

Altogether 40 such coin-operated payphones have been installed in the city and more sets are likely to be installed shortly as many applications are still pending with the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

People can now make a local call after inserting a new one rupee coin and if the call is of over 90 seconds he will have to insert another coin to avoid getting disconnected.

The callers need not worry about the operation of the phone as a computer-controlled synthesised voice will give phone-users the necessary instructions. The biggest advantage of the coin-operated telephone service is that it allows the caller several facilities. It displays the duration of the calls and collects payment without the aid of an operator.

According to local BSNL authorities, anyone who wants to install a payphone will have to apply to BSNL and sign an agreement with them as the custodian of the phone.

“After getting the connection, they will have to pay the bill amount to the BSNL out of money they have collected from phone users and the rest will be their profit,” a BSNL official said.

Those who are willing to install the ACTS will have to procure the machine themselves from private companies dealing with it.

“We have already installed over 30 coin operated payphones in the city and will also extend our service in the rest of the state,” said Sumit Agarwal, proprietor of Prudent Technology and Agarwal Company.

He claimed that his firm was the pioneer of the one rupee coin phone systems in the Northeast and launched the new payphones in Guwahati only recently.

BSNL sources said due to some “technical” problems the ACTS could not be implemented in the city earlier.