MTNL to offer free roaming, BSNL to charge Rs 1 per day

Telecom service provider MTNL will launch free roaming plans from January 26, while BSNL will offer Rs 1 package / day for roaming. This will be the special bonanza for Republic Day.

The government-owned MTNL, which has presence in Delhi and Mumbai, will offer free roaming in these two metros.

PTI reported that BSNL will also have a roaming plan for free calls, but its customers may have to shell out Re 1 a day to avail of the facility.

Though telecom policy 2012 suggested for a free national roaming, private telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, etc. did not address customer demands as free roaming will hit their bottomline and topline.

Several private telecom operators already offer plans under which, for a monthly or daily fee starting Rs 5, people get all incoming calls without roaming charges.

MTNL free roaming

MTNL’s Mumbai customer will not have to pay any extra charge when they travel to Delhi, and same scheme will apply for its Delhi customers.

PTI report says telecom minister Kapil Sibal is likely to announce this scheme within couple of days.

“Telecom minister had asked the PSUs in November to come up with free roaming scheme. Though MTNL made it free, BSNL will levy charge so that it can bear cost. Customers availing scheme will enjoy local tariff wherever they travel,” the source said.

As per latest the data released by telecom regulator TRAI, BSNL has 9.78 crore mobile subscribers while MTNL has 35.75 lakh customers on its network.

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