Bharti Airtel on Monday announced Rs 5 / day package for incoming calls on national roaming.
The announcement to charge Rs 5 per day is in response to the latest TRAI guidelines.
The scheme is valid for pre-paid customers.
India’s #1 telecom operator will charge 1.5 paise / second for outgoing calls.
TRAI on June 17 asked Indian mobile operators to offer customized roaming tariffs to customers. TRAI has also reduced tariffs ceiling for incoming calls while on national roaming to Rs 0.75 per minute from Rs 1.75 per minute.
TRAI earlier said tariffs ceiling on outgoing local calls will be reduced to Rs 1 per minute from Rs 1.40 per minute, while tariffs ceiling on outgoing STD calls will be slashed to Rs 1.50 per minute from Rs 2.40 per minute.
The telecom regulator was not in favor of free roaming. National Telecom Policy 2012 had recommended free roaming for mobile users.
Free roaming would impact revenue of telecom operators. Revenue loss to mobile service providers due to free roaming in 2013 will be around Rs 13,500 crore, according to industry experts.
Domestic mobile operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea generate 10-12 percent of their revenues from the national roaming services, which amount to Rs 10,000-Rs 13,500 crore.
Vodafone
Several mobile users have started getting benefits of free or reduced national roaming rates.
On 23 April, Vodafone India slashed national roaming rate to 30 paise / minute to pre-paid customers on Vodafone network. Outgoing call rates are priced at 1.5 paise / sec for all local & STD calls, while roaming or at home. The price point for the new national roaming plan varies from state to state and ranges between Rs 26 to Rs 47, Vodafone said earlier.
These new roaming plans for pre-paid customers are presently available in all Vodafone circles, except Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and J&K. Vodafone is trying to tap people who are looking for the holiday season.
The plans come with a roaming incoming benefit of 30 days and tariff validity of 180 days.
Aircel
Aircel was one of the first telecom operators to remove national roaming rates. From January 2013 onward, Aircel started offering free national roaming on its network.
Aircel’s One Nation, One Rate product offers one rate for voice, SMS and data in home circles and on roaming on Aircel network. As per the one nation, one rate tariff plan, Aircel provides One India tariff to Aircel customers. The product is available in Delhi for Rs 39.
Aircel is offering Voice – Local/National calling at 1paisa/second in Home circle as well as on roaming on Aircel network. Incoming calls while on Roaming on Aircel network will be free. Aircel has priced SMS – Local and National SMS at Re 1/SMS in Home circle as well as while on roaming.
Since TRAI’s new guidelines are effective from July 1, other operators will also be joining Airtel.
