Here comes the good news for commuters who travel frequently between states within the country, today Indian government has confirmed that it will withdraw the roaming charges from 2013.
Earlier this year, the Minister of Communications and IT, Kapil Sibal announced a plan named ‘One nation-free roaming’, which will have no roaming charges all over India. Now, the Telecom Minister has confirmed that the mobile phone users need not pay any roaming charges from 2013.
Sibal was reported saying “Our secretary has told you that it will be free from next year.” in response to a query put forward regarding the removal of these charges as mentioned in the National Telecom Policy 2012. In May, NTP 2012 was approved aiming to completely eradicate the roaming charges and let the subscribers use the same number all over the country, without paying additional charges while they are out of their telecom circle.
Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar was quoted saying, “We are first going to attend to all issues linked to auction. The moment NIA is issued this week, we will focus on UL. After details of full UL is worked out, the modalities for free roaming will follow.”
According to the schedule, the NIA will be issued on Friday, September 28.
However, this is about to have an impact on the mobile phone call rates, as COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews claimed, “That is matter which we will have to work with Trai (telecom regulator). Trai is ultimately responsible for setting the tariffs…We hope that Trai will follow due process of consultation paper.”
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