Thursday, 4 July 2013
Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular have announced 'free' roaming plans days after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) allowed the operators to provide free nationwide roaming to subscribers through Special Tariff Vouchers and combo packs.
Bharti Airtel
was the first operator to launch a free roaming pack for its prepaid
customers. The operator is offering a special Rs. 5 per day plan for
free incoming calls. Outgoing calls are charged at 1.5p per second. Airtel is also offering a one-time pack,
priced at Rs. 79 (free incoming calls for 30 days). Outgoing calls are
charged at 1.5p/sec in home circle and roaming. To activate roaming
services, Airtel customers need to SMS roam to 121!
Efforts are being made by the government to pave the way for cheaper roaming across India, though the National Telecom Policy 2012 envisages free roaming in the country. The telecom regulator in its recent announcement said fully free regime is simply not practicable at this juncture.
