State owned telecom operator, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) plans to tie up with over 400 foreign telecom firms, to aid its global roaming program. This move will allow BSNL subscribers to roam with the specified operator of the foreign country, anywhere in the world. BSNL’s commercial roaming has been launched in 50 countries with 68 foreign operators of these, in October this year.
However, BSNL does not have roaming arrangement with private players for country-wide roaming. It only roams within its own and MTNL networks. BSNL is in the process of appointing consultants, who will contact, negotiate and finalize bilateral international roaming agreements between BSNL and foreign mobile operators for services including voice, SMS and data, and for all categories of subscribers. These consultants will also assist BSNL in international roaming work including fixation of tariff and introduction of new services.
BSNL plans to augment its mobile network to reach a capacity of 90 million over the next four years with a mix of 2G and 3G services.
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