Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular announce free roaming plans

Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular announce free roaming plans

Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular announce free roaming plans

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!

Airtel roaming packs

Idea Cellular was quick to announce its own free roaming packs. The telecom operator has introduced two vouchers priced between Rs. 230-240, and another priced between Rs. 35-40 (denomination to vary across circles).

Idea will charge 75p per minute for incoming calls on roaming under Rs. 35-40 voucher. Incoming is free for subscribers who avail Rs 230-240 voucher of Idea. The benefits of these vouchers will valid up to 6 months from the date of recharge.

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.

“...There are still real costs incurred in providing the national roaming facility. Mandating a fully free regime is simply not practicable at this juncture. Compelling a transition to a fully free national roaming regime would result in telecom service providers not being able to recover their costs from roamers. In turn, telecom service providers would pass these costs on to all consumers (predominantly non-roamers) through their higher tariffs,” the TRAI clarified on not bringing in a full-fledged free roaming facility yet.

So far, Airtel and Idea have only announced 'free' roaming packs. Other telecom operators are likely to follow suit soon.