 "Roaming is about to get cheaper but won't be free")
The telecom regulator said it would allow carriers to offer free nationwide mobile roaming to subscribers for a fixed fee from July 1, in a partial relief to operators, some of whom had opposed a proposal to completely abolish roaming charges.
Currently, subscribers pay an additional fee for making and receiving calls when they are outside their home zone. India is divided into 22 telecoms zones.
[caption id=“attachment_877433” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Reuters[/caption]
According to CNBC-TV18, Outgoing local call charges, while on roaming, will be capped at Rs 1.00 per minute from Rs 1.40 earlier, while outgoing STD charges, while on national roaming, have been capped to Rs 150 from Rs 2.40 per minute earlier.The ceiling on incoming calls on roaming have been cut to 75 paise/minute from Rs 1.75 earlier, while outgoing local SMS will cost Rs 1 and outgoing STD SMS will cost Rs 1.50 from July 1.
“With increased subscribers and usage, the costs associated with national roaming have declined, but not
vanished. There are still real costs incurred in providing the national roaming facility,” Trai said in a statement.'
“Mandating a fully free roaming regime is simply not practicable at this juncture. Compelling a transition to a fully free national roaming regime would result in telecom service providers not being able to recover their costs from roamers,” the regulator said. In turn, telecom service providers would pass these costs on to all consumers (predominantly non-roamers) through higher tariffs, it added.
Trai has decided that STVs and Combo Vouchers which were hitherto allowed only for home tariffs can be permitted for roaming tariffs. This will give the service providers the
greatest possible flexibility in customising tariffs for their roaming subscribers.
Trai has also mandated the service providers to offer special plans for roaming subscribers in which subscribers can avail of partially free roaming, or fully free roaming in lieu of payment of fixed charges, it said.
All subscribers will benefit from the reduced ceilings: competitive pricing below the new ceiling levels is expected. The provision for STVs and Combo Vouchers as well as special tariff plans for roaming tariff will allow the service providers to cater to the specific roaming needs of different customer segments, it added.
The new regime provides reduced ceilings and free roaming facilities for roamers without impacting customers who do not
use the roaming facility, Trai said.
The government had earlier proposed to completely abolish roaming charges, but the regulator said on Monday that would not be “practicable at this juncture”, because telecoms companies would not be able to recover their costs.
With inputs from Reuters
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