Ahead of Diwali, the telecom ministry on Wednesday announced that soldiers will now be able to speak to their loved ones for…
Representative image Photo: AFP
Ahead of Diwali, the telecom ministry on Wednesday announced that soldiers will now be able to speak to their loved ones for “longer duration” as it reduced call rates, from Rs.5 per minute to Re.1.
Earlier soldiers paid a monthly sum of Rs.500 and an additional Rs.5 per minute as call charges. But from Thursday, the monthly charge will be completely discarded in addition to the reduced call rates, Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha said.
According to the ministry, soldiers and officers of various army and para-military units like CRPF, BSF, BRO, ITBP, etc. are deployed in remote and far flung areas to protect borders of India.
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The soldiers only use BSNL DSPT Digital Satellite Phone Terminal (DSPT) service provided by BSNL because there is no other means of communications available in those areas.
“In order to use DSPT, the soldiers and officers at present are required to pay monthly fee of Rs.500 and call charges of Rs.5 per minute… from Diwali, no monthly fee will be taken…the present charges of Rs.5per minute is being reduced to Re.1 per minute,” Sinha said.
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