MobileFirst, an alliance formed by the second rung cellular operators in India, is mulling a slash in mobile-to-mobile STD airtime rates, in line with an announcement made by Idea Cellular on Saturday.

"MobileFirst will roll out a revised package within a day or two to stay buoyant in the highly-competitive telecom industry," an industry analyst told PTI in Mumbai on Monday.

"The four cellular operators under the alliance - BPL Mobile, Escotel Ltd, RPG Cellular and Spice Telecom - are in discussions and are expected to follow suit, he added.

Speaking to PTI over phone from Chennai, RPG Cellular Managing Director Dilip R Mehta confirmed the move, and said, "We are in talks with the coalition and will reduce the prices." The new tariffs would be announced in a couple of days, he added.

BPL Mobile senior vice-president and chief operating officer, Mumbai circle, Deepak Varma said talks have been initiated to gauge the impact of slash in rates. BPL would reduce the prices, but only if it is necessary to offer value to our customers.

"No steps would be taken in a haste," he said. 

Meanwhile, sources in Hutch Telecom, the operators of Orange, said there was no "immediate plans" to cut mobile-to-mobile STD airtime rates.

"We will study the present tariff structure offered by our competitors and depending on the situation we might reduce the tariffs," he added.

Idea Cellular had reduced airtime charges on mobile-to-mobile STD calls and dropped airtime charges for mobile-to-mobile ISD calls, effective Sunday.