Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices Ltd on Wednesday decided to slash the entry cost for new subscribers in Gujarat.

Reliance has announced that a new entry level Reliance India Mobile pre-paid package is introduced with a lower entry cost of Rs 2,999 including the price of a multimedia-enabled handset.

Tatas announced that a new aspiring Tata Indicom subscriber now can get a new connection of CDMA mobile with colour Nokia handsets with an upfront payment of only Rs 999.

"Reliance Infocomm has now made data-enabled handsets more affordable for its RIM prepaid customers by introducing an attractive entry pricing of Rs 2,999 for Nokia 2280 handsets, Rs 3,499 for LG RD 2030 handsets and Rs 4,499 for Moonlight LG RD 2130 handsets.

All the three handsets will be pre-loaded with one recharge coupon worth Rs 324 with equivalent talktime of Rs 200 and 30 days of validity, said a Reliance source here on Wednesday.

Though Tata Teleservices officials earlier claimed that the company would be launching its prepaid services and messaging services including data-enabled services by last calendar year, no such plan has materialised so far.

Reliance Infocomm has already been offering messaging services, data services and also prepaid services for the CDMA mobile subscribers.

Earlier, Reliance launched its prepaid services, RIM Prepaid, at Rs 3,500 for a Motorola C 131 handset along with bundled prepaid vouchers worth Rs 3,240 which would be valid for six months and can be extended for another six months on request.

With the new scheme launched on Wednesday, Reliance has not only slashed the upfront fee for the RIM prepaid subscribers but also attempted to woo the CDMA prepaid segment with sophisticated data-enabled handsets with a lower price.

"The newly introduced LG RD 2230 handset is priced at Rs 3,499 which will also come pre-loaded with one recharge coupon worth Rs 324 equivalent to talk time of Rs 200 with a validity of 30 days. The feature-rich and elegant LG RD 2230 phone with its soft-edge stylish design, comes with Hindi user interface, internal antenna, phone book with storage up to 300 entries, polyphonic ring tones and R Connect option too," said a company release.

Tata Indicom, the brand name of Tata Teleservices, launched a new scheme in which subscribers will be able to posses a digital technology-based Kyocera Rave CDMA colour mobile handset by paying just Rs 499 as an upfront payment and remaining in 24 equated monthly instalments of Rs 299.

"The new handset comes with a unique flashlight and the features offered include calculator, built-in directory to store personal and business information and also user-friendly navigation keys. We will also offer Nokia 2280 handset with an upfront payment of Rs 999 and 27 EMIs of Rs 249 each. For subscribers in the lower-end, Tata Teleservices will offer Motorola C210 handset with connection at an upfront payment of Rs 499 and 27 EMIs of Rs 199 each," said a company source.

However, all these schemes launched by Indicom are only for its postpaid subscribers as Tata is yet to launch its prepaid services in the CMDA segment.

Tata Teleservices is currently operating in eight circles  --  Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Mumbai, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Chennai  --  and has a customer base of about 1.6 million.