Hathway Cable & Datacom has announced a new scheme to promote Internet through cable as a viable alternative to dial-up. The Silver Starter rate plan offers bandwidth of 64 kbps with a download limit of 300MB. The monthly charge is Rs 650 while the yearly charge is Rs 6500. This is a reduction from the earlier flat fee of Rs 1000 per subscriber. Free e-mail service of 5 mb will also be provided. The Silver Starter plan will exist along with the other schemes where monthly instalments start from Rs 1000 onwards.

The company has also started monthly billing for SMTP Services for domains other than Hathway. The monthly charge is Rs 600 plus the 5 per cent service tax. Earlier this month the company reduced the cable modem price to Rs 7,800 from Rs 9000.

All these initiatives are aimed at attracting Net users in the dial-up system who use around 20 hours a month. The cost of bandwidth has dropped by almost 20 per cent.

Reports indicate that Hathway will not expand the cable Internet service to new areas. Hyderabad will be the only new territory of expansion in the near future. Its service is currently available in Delhi, Pune, Chennai and Bangalore. In Mumbai the company operates from Colaba to Mahim. It also has a presence in the suburb of Chembur.