Hutch recently introduced volume-based charges for its WAP-only browsing service. Their full GPRS service, where the phone can be used as a modem, was moved to volume-based pricing late last year. The new data charges (Rs10 / 1MB) are very high by today’s standards. And so it doesn’t come as a when Economic Times reports that after Hutch introduced volume-based charges, it has seen enormous cancellations.

In Pakistan, for instance, where only one of the two GSM providers offers GPRS service, the charges are Rs 15 MB flat. Further, there are no monthly rental or subscription charges for GPRS for both the pre-paid and post paid connections.

If a country such as Pakistan, where there is a monopoly play, can offer such low GPRS connection charges, why is its Indian counterpart, where there is healthy competition, being billed three times more?

Airtel charges flat fee of Rs 199 per month for a full-fledged GPRS connection while BPL rates are Rs 99 per month for WAP/MMS and Rs 750 per month for the full GPRS service. BSNL, which recently introduced its GPRS service announced a tariff cut recently.