In view of spreading its customer base far and wide in the country, the state run Telecom, BSNL will now be offering unlimited free calls. “BSNL...customers will be able to make unlimited free voice calling from a BSNL landline to any network mobile and landline in the country on August 15, and thereafter every Sunday,” Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said in a statement. At present, it offers unlimited night calling on any network in the country between 9 pm to 7 am as complimentary service for all its customers.

New customers under ‘LL 49’ would have to pay fixed monthly charges of Rs. 49 for the first six months after which their number would be converted to the general plan. There would be no free calls under this plan and the call charges to BSNL network would be Rs.1 and for other networks Rs.1.20 per unit. There will be no installation charges.

The subscribers under this plan would also be eligible for the free night calling facility and free calling on Sundays, extended to BSNL landline subscribers. BSNL has 59.31 percent market share in the landline services market in India. Bharti Airtel is the number two telecom operator in the Indian landline o wireline market with 14.1 percent share in January 2016, according to TRAI statistics. The third largest landline phone company is MTNL with 13.79 percent share. BSNL has lost 21,546 landline phone customers in January 2016, while MTNL lost 5,108 customers.