Free Roaming Services

One of the objectives of the New Telecom Policy – 2012 is to work towards ‘one nation – free roaming’. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, said that as per the provisions of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Act, 1997 as amended from time to time, TRAI prescribes tariffs for telecommunication services in India. Taking into consideration the declared intent of the New Telecom Policy – 2012 for roaming charges, TRAI undertook a comprehensive consultation process to prescribe roaming charges. TRAI had decided not to mandate the implementation of a system in which the calling party pays for a national roaming call in view of  the high costs and operational complications involved and had also concluded that it may not be feasible to remove charges for the incoming call while on national roaming. Further, as a result of a comprehensive consultation process, TRAI issued 55th amendment to Telecom Tariff Order (TTO) 1999 on 17.06.2013, which came into effect from 01.07.2013. This amendment brought about the following changes in the tariff regime for national roaming service:

(i)                 The ceiling tariffs prescribed by TRAI in the year 2007 were Rs.1.40 per minute for outgoing local calls and Rs.2.40 per minute for outgoing STD calls while on national roaming.  These ceilings have been reduced to Re. 1.00 per minute and Re. 1.50 per minute respectively.  Similarly, the ceiling tariffs for incoming calls while on national roaming have been reduced from Rs.1.75 per minute to Re. 0.75 per minute.  Tariffs for outgoing SMS while on national roaming, which were earlier under forbearance have now been capped: outgoing SMS-local at Re. 1.00 per SMS and outgoing SMS-STD at Rs; 1.50 per SMS. Incoming SMS will remain free of charge.
(ii)            Special Tariff Vouchers (STVs) and Combo Vouchers with the benefits of national roaming have been allowed to provide flexibility and convenience to the customers.
(iii)           The service providers have been mandated to offer special tariff plans for roaming. The subscribers can avail partially free roaming, or fully free roaming in lieu of payment of fixed charges, by subscribing to the corresponding tariff plan.
All the wireless access service providers including BSNL and MTNL have implemented the tariff for national roaming in accordance with the reduced ceilings prescribed through the 55th Amendment to Tariff Order (TTO), 1999. All the service providers have launched special tariff plans for roaming. Some of the service providers have launched special tariff vouchers and combo vouchers for national roaming.
While the reduced ceiling tariffs for national roaming service would benefit all the users, special tariff vouchers and combo vouchers would be beneficial for infrequent roamers. On the other hand, special tariff plans would benefit the frequent roamers.

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KKP