After a long wait, telecom regulator TRAI has finished the consultation process on nation-wide free roaming and will provide its recommendations in the next 10 to 15 days. The free roaming agreement for Indian subscribers is long-overdue.
Rahul Khullar, TRAI Chairman said, “On national roaming, the consultation has been completed, the authority is in the process of formulating its final rules before it takes a decision in 10-15 days”. Sources from the industry claim that the national roaming is proposed to be done through a special tariff vouchers.
This means roaming will not exactly be free, but it will definitely bring down roaming prices. The National Telecom Policy, 2012 aims to abolish roaming charges and allow mobile phone subscribers to use the same number across the country, without having to pay any extra charges for the services after they have gone out of their telecom circle.
Kapil Sibal, Telecom Minister, said that the government will try to begin the free national roaming for customers before October 2013. Back in December 2012, TRAI had floated a pre-consultation paper while seeking inputs from the stakeholders on tariff for national roaming services.
