Bharti Tele-Ventures has announced a slew of benefits such as weekend specials, night life and free SMS with holiday trip on eve of its first anniversary as the fourth cellular operator in Mumbai.

The company, which bagged 100,000 customers within 40 days of its launch in Mumbai last year, is offering special airtime rates on all weekends at a monthly fee of just Rs 49. Local call rates to landline, WLL and GSM mobile phone will be Re 1 a minute.

According to a press release, the company is offering these special rates beginning July 26 and will be offered to those users subscribing to its Total Freedom 349 and 012 plans.

Atul Jhamb, chief operating officer, AirTel, Mumbai circle, said, "Today, as we look back on one year of success, nothing would delight us more than having our customers join in our celebrations. Our latest offers reinforce our commitment to deliver the best value for the customer."

The company is also offering special night rates to its new and existing AirTel post-paid customers on local outgoing calls at a monthly fee of just Rs 49. Come August 15 and on all Sundays through the month, the company is also offering free SMS to its subscribers.

In addition to the above offers, AirTel post-paid customers can win a holiday trip to Singapore, Dubai or Bangkok, by making at least one ISD call a day to any city in the world, during August.

Bharti offers mobile services in 15 circles of the 22 circles. It is the leading private sector provider of telecommunications services with an aggregate of 41.75 lakh (4.17 million) customers as of June 30, 2003, consisting of approximately 37.51 lakh (3.75 million) mobile and 423,758 fixed line customers and enjoying a market share of 24.8 per cent.