Uninor enters Indian Telecom crowd with a bang – 29 paisa per call – talkmore@29 and callmore@29 schemes

Indian Telecom Space is already over crowded. In fact, India is THE country with most Telecom providers in the world. And, there are more companies in the queue waiting for launch. The latest addition to the Telecom Providers list is Uninor – a joint venture between India’s real estate company Unitech and Norway Telecom major Telenor.

Few days back, Uninor launched its GSM service in seven circles in the country – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh East and West, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. With India’s tele density around 45% and and having more than 525 million telecom subscribers, the game should be tough for any new telecom players. But, Indian and foreign companies are still believing that there is a huge potential base still to be tapped.

Regarding the tariff structures, Uninor hasn’t copied much from the existing players. In fact, it has gone a one step forward in the tariff war and unveiled its GSM plans for as low as 29 paisa per minute. Also, it seems the company is trying to differentiate itself from the peers by providing not only cheap rates but also providing “value for money” schemes.

Uninor has announced two interesting calling schemes. Talkmore@29 – offers customers local calls at 29 paise per minute and STD at 49 paise per minute, with a call setup fee of 39 paise (aah … see the catch here … call setup fee ??). Callmore@29 – offers locals calls at 29 paise and STD at 49 paise per minute, with a daily rental of Rs2.

Uninor which has a pan-India licence, is expected to expand its GSM service in other circles by early March, 2010. And, the company is trying for a market share of 8% by 2018!! Is it possible ? Will Tata’s and Reliance leave way ??