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NEW DELHI: Indian top telecom service provider Bharti Airtel has decided to offer all calls on its network from India to Nepal completely free of cost for the next 48 hours effective midnight following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Nepal that killed at least 1,457 people in that country.
Telephone calls made on state-owned BSNL, MTNL and Idea networks to earthquake-hit Nepal for the next three days will attract only local call rates, the state-owned company said.
“The move is aimed at enabling Indians to connect with their near and dear ones in Nepal, which saw several hundreds dead following a massive earthquake on Saturday,” Airtel told Voice&Data.
All phone calls from India to Nepal made by any BSNL or MTNL phone shall be charged at local rates and not at ISD rates, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted today.
A decision to cut call rates was taken following a meeting chaired by the Cabinet secretary with approval from the telecom minister.
When, we contacted to Videcoon Telecom, on this issue, “Yes we are looking at it. May be for some time till the situation settles,” said company spokesperson.
On the other hand, Idea Cellular said that they are making efforts to support the disaster relief initiatives and enable people to reach out to their friends and family members in the earthquake impacted areas of Nepal. Idea Cellular has announced that all calls made from its network from anywhere in India to Nepal will be charged as per local rate.
“The company is facilitating all calls made to Nepal at just Re 1/min against the regular call rate of Rs 12/min, starting midnight of 25th-26th up to the morning of the 28th of April 2015,” said Idea Cellular to Voice&Data over WhatsApp.
“Providing relief to all affected by the calamity remains to be a priority for Idea, and the telecom operator will continue to undertake such measures to ensure there are no gaps in communication during the time of such crisis,” the company said.