Punjab Newspaper

HFCL Infotel Limited, has launched its mobile service, under the brand name ‘Ping’ for Punjab and Chandigarh, here today.
Ping offers call charges of one paisa per second with the benefit of single second billing. This effectively means that the user will pay exactly for the time of usage in seconds. Instead of minute based charging wherein the user ends up paying even for the duration not actually used.
The SIM based colour mobile bundled with this service is priced at only Rs. 999 with free 6000 minutes of on-net calls along with a free Ping Tunes subscription for one month.
“Ping is the most fun-packed bouquet for the consumers, with low tariff, cost effective handset and host of value added services providing true value for money to the customer”, said Mr. Surendra Lunia, CEO of HFCL Infotel, here at the launch function.
“It is for the first time in the country that any mobile operator has offered a unique consumer-friendly pulse rate of one paise per second, and a SIM-based feature-rich colour mobile handset for as low as Rs.999”, informed Mr. Lunia.
This SIM-based stylish colour mobile handset has a speaker phone feature with a large phone book and voice recording facility, underlining Ping’s brand promise for its consumers, ‘Jiyo Non-Stop’.
The sleek colour mobile handsets have been procured from world’s leading manufacturers ZTE and Huawei.
The service would be available in 150 towns and 5000 villages of Punjab, and Chandigarh on the CDMA platform for which nearly Rs.100 crores have been invested, stated Mr. G D Singh, Chief Operating Officer, HFCL Infotel Ltd.
He further added that the existing Connect landline subscribers have been offered ‘Valued customer advantage’ under which the bundled Ping mobile handset with connection costing Rs.1298 would be available to them for an effective amount of Rs.698 only.
The company has already set up a state-wide distribution network of 8000 retail outlets to reach out to the rich and youthful market of Punjab.
“We are already servicing a very large number of broadband and basic telephony services pan-Punjab and intend to reach out to 3,00,000 new subscribers by the end of the current financial year”, says Mr. Surendra Lunia.
HFCL Infotel has approximately 70,000 Connect mobile subscribers with over 2.50 lakh landline subscribers and nearly 40,000 DSL subscribers.
HFCL Infotel shall invest about Rs.20 crore more to extend the service to 5000 more villages in Punjab in the next twelve months, said Mr. G.D. Singh.
Though HFCL Infotel had launched the Connect CDMA mobile service in 2000, its focus had primarily been on basic telephony and broadband services, and with the launch of ‘Ping’, it becomes the third major player on CDMA platform and the seventh mobile service provider in Punjab.