18 Dec 2013

Free National Roaming

One of the objectives of the New Telecom Policy – 2012 is to work towards ‘one nation – free roaming’. Stating this in written reply to a question in the Lok 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. 
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:

  1. 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 Rs. 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.

  1. Special Tariff Vouchers(STVs) and Combo Vouchers with the benefits of national roaming have been allowed to provide flexibility and convenience to the customers.

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