India's government said it will end local roaming charges in 2013 to
reduce consumers' mobile bill when they travel around the country, but
the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) have yet to consult
with relevant industry stakeholders on this proposal.
In a report by the Times of India on Tuesday, Communications Minister Kapil
Sibal reiterated national roaming charges will be made free
from next year, which was first promised in the National Telecom Policy
2012. Currently, users pay around INR 0.60 a minute in their home
region but pay between INR 1.25 and INR 1.50 a minute while roaming in
another telecom region.
However, TRAI has yet to kick off consultations for this move, which
is the norm when such changes are proposed. The process requires a
discussion paper followed by open house sessions with stakeholders
before the rules are finalized, the report noted.
One of the issues that will need to be resolved will be the
interconnect charges operators pay to another to connect a mobile user
from one roaming circle to another, and this will take some time to
resolve since this is a source of revenue for operators, it added.
Rajan Mathews, director general of Cellular
Operators Association of India (COAI), also pointed out operators would
have to rework their infrastructure and billing systems to comply with
the new rules.
He added the ending of local roaming charges might be too much hassle for too little users. "Our
data suggests that only 10 percent of customers roam nationally. While
the move is welcome, you are making the industry go through a churn for
something that benefits only 10 percent of customers," Mathews said.
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