New Delhi, January 2, 2005: In a major initiative, Tata Indicom, India’s premier telecom service provider, has redefined the desktop phone category, by announcing affordable, consumer friendly tariff plans for its Walky customers across 20 circles.

Catering to the ever growing communication needs of their existing and potential Walky customers, Tata Indicom has introduced Home 2 Mobile 249 and Home2 Mobile349 tariff plan for their residential and City 299, Silver 499 and Tata 600 tariff plan for their Business customers. Through this initiative, Tata Indicom has taken a pioneering step by introducing new post-paid tariff plans for residential and business customers.

The Indian Telecom industry has reached the historic landmark of over 100 million subscribers. Of this, the mobile user segment has been a strong contributor, accounting for over 50 percent of all the telecom subscribers in the country. Industry analysts are of the opinion that out of the 250 million phones by end - 2007, about 180 million phones will be mobile.

For the first time, Tata Indicom Walky customers can call any Mobile and any other Tata Indicom phone within his state at Rs. 1.20 for 3 minutes. That’s three times more talk time per call than you get from a normal landline! These rates are applicable on the Home 2 Mobile tariffs.

These tariff plans are designed in such a way that it suits varying needs of business and residential customers by offering additional features like Line Hunting, Pooling, Voice Mail, High-speed Internet access, and reduction in SMS charges.

The tariffs plans are applicable for both existing and potential post paid customers and are available on existing Walky instruments.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Darryl Green, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Tata Teleservices said, "The Indian telecom industry has been witnessing a tremendous growth in the mobile category and customers today tend to call mobile numbers more often then a fixed number. We, at Tata Indicom, wish to change the paradigm by offering cheaper calls to mobile phones and are confident that our unmatched and affordable offerings for residential and business customers will receive tremendous response.

The market response to our Walky product has been very positive and we see tremendous growth potential in this category. We are keen to further grow this category by offering huge savings to our customers at great value tariffs." Mr. Green added.

A feature rich fixed telephony product, Walky, has an immense potential in India. Tata Indicom is aiming to cater to different segments by offering a host of value added benefits like High Speed Internet Access, In-built speaker, Ring tone downloads, CLIP, Hotline etc. Tata Indicom is targeting the emerging market as well as the replacement market to further increase their leadership position in the FWP category.

Tata Indicom was the first to launch CDMA-based Fixed Wireless telephony service in the country. As the service operates on Tata Indicom CDMA wireless platform, Walky offers several advantages over the landline, as it does not require any physical wiring for last mile connectivity. Hence customers can expect instant connections (as it eliminates the need for cables to be laid), the ability to retain the same phone number within the city for customers who shift residence/office, better security and all weather proof (unaffected by rains / harsh climatic conditions) service.