Free National Roaming By October 2013
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has reiterated that free national mobile roaming is not only on the cards, but he went further to state that this will happen by October this year. As reported by NDTV, Sibal was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the National Internet Registry (NIR), which will be India's very own agency to manage IP address allocation with the aim of reducing cost, as the country moves from IPv4 to IPv6. The National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012 had announced last year that it plans to make roaming free across the country.
Sibal said, "TRAI has floated a consultation paper on it (national free roaming). So when TRAI 's recommendations come and after that, we will try to start free roaming before October". Currently, subscribers have to pay significant roaming charges for calls and SMSes. While the minister did not specifically state it, as a result of this move, subscribers will be able to retain their mobile numbers even after moving to another circle.
Mobile operators are not too happy about this though, as the move will require major changes in infrastructure and policy, but only benefit 10% of the total subscriber base that actually uses national roaming. Already reeling under the aftermath of the 2G spectrum scam and the looming prospect of a licence re-auction, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had expressed its displeasure, stating "...you are making the industry go through a churn for something that benefits only 10% of customers".
Another thorny issue in the implementation is the matter of inter-connect charges, which is the amount paid by one operator when its subscriber uses another operator's infrastructure while roaming, for circles where the former does not have sufficient coverage. Since mobile providers stand to lose on both roaming and inter-connect charges with the new policy, they might feel the need to hike call rates to make up for lost revenue.
Incidentally, 3G roaming is still illegal, according to a diktat of the Department of Telecommunications (DOT), and we can probably expect the decision to be upheld in the next NTP. The overall effect of the decision to allow free roaming will benefit a small minority, while the overwhelming majority that doesn't roam may now need to brace for a price hike if telecom operators decide to increase overall tariff to offset its revenue loss. Do you think that free roaming will be implemented by October 2013?
Free National Roaming By October 2013: Sibal | TechTree.com