Mobile calls to be cheaper by up to 23%; SMS to cost 40% less on Roaming

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Mobile calls while in roaming will be cheaper by up to 23 per cent, while sending SMSes will cost up to 40 per cent less from May 1 as regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has slashed ceiling tariffs.

However, following this TRAI order, subscribers will not be able to avail of schemes that allowed them to make calls and send SMSes while in roaming at home circle rates.

“TRAI has reduced ceiling tariffs for national roaming calls and SMS and has mandated telecom service providers to offer a special roaming tariff plan. These changes will come into effect from May 1, 2015,” TRAI said in a statement on Thursday.

The TRAI has cut the maximum or ceiling rate that a telecom operator can charge for STD calls on roaming to Rs 1.15 per minute from Rs 1.5. Similarly, national SMS rate has been reduced to 38 paise from Rs 1.5 per SMS.
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On the other hand, in a blow to consumers, the regulator has removed the roaming tariff plan, RTP and RTP-FR, under which the consumer paid the same charges as his home circle or service area while in roaming.

Under ‘Roaming Tariff Plan (RTP)’ clause, the charges for outgoing voice calls and outgoing SMS, both local as well as long distance (inter-circle), did not change with the location of the subscriber within the country.

The ‘RTP-FR’ plan allowed the subscriber to pay same charges as his home service area for outgoing local and STD calls as well as SMS during roaming.

In addition, incoming calls were free on roaming in lieu of fixed charges under RTP-FR.

The regulator has mandated operators to introduce a new ’Special Roaming Tariff Plan’, which will offer only free incoming calls on payment of a fixed charge, but do away with other features.


Source: http://www.thehindu.com/business/In...ling-tariffs/article7085527.ece?homepage=true
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  1. They should have changed the daily SMS cap to 500sms/day with the reduction of SMS base charges.
 
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asingh said:
How will FUP-TEL, monetize and exploit this..?
Click to expand...
We have invested over 1.5lakh crores over last 10years, we have spent 30,000 crore in last month spectrums.
Calls rates have just gone up by 3p/min, data rates have just gone up by 12p/megabyte .. If you compare data rates in US, data is cheap by 300% here.

We cannot change roaming charges. Media is unnecessarily without actual knowledge of net neutrality teaching us what it is [emoji6]
 
It's easy. They will keep increasing home circle out going rates till it reaches roaming out going rates.
And voila! You won't be paying anything extra for roaming.
Mind you, they have again skipped the free roaming incoming we were promised.

Yes, remain tangled in net neutrality for now.
 
Last edited:
asingh said:
How will FUP-TEL, monetize and exploit this..?
Click to expand...

Not sure whether Airtel's rates are currently higher than those. I have been using an Airtel Punjab number as my primary mobile number in Andhra Pradesh/Telangana for nearly 4.5 years year now. Granted that my usage is not high, but I don't think the call rates have been high.
A Rs 1000 recharge would last an year for me and that is including the occasional 2G internet (without subscribing to any internet pack). In fact, 4 years back, the roaming call rates on my Airtel number were much much lower. 35p/min or something like that.

AFAIK, Airtel was forced to increase the roaming rates after BSNL complained about the low rates. Even their SMS rates had to be increased because BSNL sued them for compensation to cover the loss they incurred due to Airtel offering lower rates.
 
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