New Delhi: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's (BSNL) new tariffs for cell phones and also new fixed-to-cell call charges, in which increase was partially rolled-back, came into effect from May 17 throughout the country except in Delhi and Mumbai.

The new post-paid and the pre-paid cellular tariffs, as also the recently announced roll-back in charges for landline to cellphone calls are effective from May 17, BSNL chairman and managing director Prithipal Singh told reporters.

BSNL's decision to increase the number of free calls for landline services has been effected from May 1.

BSNL, earlier this week, announced a tariffs war for its cellular services slashing existing post-paid and pre-paid tariffs by upto 66 per cent and also introduced a Plan 525 with cell-to cell STD rate at Rs 1.80 per minute.

While the reduction in tariff ranges between eight to 66 per cent for its already existing post paid Plan 225 and Plan 325, in the pre-paid category the reduction in tariffs is between 8-50 per cent.

With the introduction of the interconnect usage charges (IUC) regime, the incoming calls are already free.

BSNL in its cellular tariffs has kept the pulse rate at 15 second for the benefit of customers.

PTI