Telecom majors Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular today announced 'free' roaming packs, paving the way for
cheaper roaming across India. Other operators are expected to follow suit soon. The country's biggest telecom company, Airtel on Monday
became the first to announce "free incoming calls" on roaming at a
charge of Rs 5 per day. Airtel subscribers can also opt for the one-time pack
of Rs 79, which provides free incoming calls on roaming for 30 days. However, these offers have been doled out to prepaid
customers only and there is no word about the same being extended to postpaid
users as of now. Airtel's
offer was followed by a similar announcement later in the day by Idea Cellular.
The Birla-promoted company is launching two new prepaid vouchers to offer 'free
roaming' to its over 123 million subscribers in all 22 circles, without
incurring any further charge. According
to Idea, the company will issue two vouchers priced between Rs 230-240, and
another priced between Rs 35-40 (denomination to vary across circles), using
which a subscriber can get the same rates for local, STD, ISD calling and SMS,
as those paid in the home circle. The incoming roaming charges will be 75 paise per minute for
users who avail the Rs 35-40 voucher, whereas incoming is absolutely free for
those who avail Rs 230-240 voucher of Idea. Idea users who recharge with the
new vouchers will be able to enjoy the roaming benefits for 6 months from the
date of recharge. While
Airtel and Idea have taken the lead in rolling out their 'free roaming' offers,
other major operators Vodafone and Reliance
Communications are yet to make any announcements. Tata DoCoMo has been
offering a similar service for past one year. When contacted, a Vodafone spokesperson declined to
confirm if the company was making any announcement regarding its 'free roaming'
offer. However, the company is expected to follow in the footsteps of Airtel
and Idea soon. "We
cannot commit as to if and when we will make any announcement," said the
spokesperson. With
the market leaders entering the fray with their 'free roaming' offers, albeit
with riders, other companies will be under pressure to make their announcements
sooner than later. On
June 17, Trai had announced that telecom operators can allow free national
roaming if users pay a fixed fee. This order comes into effect from July 1.
However, Trai has also said that completely free national roaming, as
envisioned by telecom minister Kapil Sibal, is not
practical. Recharging with heavy figures before a tour? Not
anymore. Good news. Trai chairman Rahul Khullar said operators have been
mandated to provide two types of roaming plan for customers. In one case, charges on incoming will be free but a fixed charge
will be levied and in the other regime you don't give free incoming and there
will be no fixed charges. The philosophy of authority is let customers decide
what they want... competition in the market will help in driving tariffs
down.The regulator also reduced the national roaming charges by up to 57%. The
cap on roaming charges prescribed by Trai in 2007 is Rs 1.40 per minute for
outgoing local calls and Rs 2.40 per minute for outgoing STD calls. This has now been reduced to Re 1 per minute for outgoing
local calls and Rs 1.50 per minute for outgoing STD calls. Similarly, the
ceiling for incoming calls while on national roaming has been reduced from Rs
1.75 per minute to 75 paise per minute under the new order. In a submission to Trai in April, Anil Ambani-led RCom had countered the contention
of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone that 'free roaming' services will hit operators'
revenues, saying the growth in business will help recoup any losses and help
expand the overall market significantly.
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