According to Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications and IT, subscribers will not have to pay roaming charges within the country from 2013, say news reports.
The government is working on the “one nation-free roaming” concept which would permit subscribers to use the same number across the country without paying additional call charges.
To fasttrack the process of implementing, “one nation-free roaming,” the Ministry of Finance has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to develop a roadmap and specify the timeline for implementing the concept.
DoT plans to speed up the process of implementing the concept once it finalises the guidelines pertaining to unified licences for the forthcoming 2G spectrum auction.
However, as per the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the government’s move to terminate roaming charges will affect telecom operators’ revenue. Currently, roaming charges account for about 10 per cent of the telecom industry’s total revenues.
According to COAI, to offset this loss, operators will have to increase tariffs. COAI is also of the view that since roaming is a tariff related issue the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India should start a consultation process and issue its recommendations first before the government takes any steps on this matter.
