Tag: mobile roaming

All Major Indian Telecom Players Slash Down Roaming Rates by Up to 75%

After Vodafone slashed down their roaming rates, leading telecom operators followed suit, including Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communication. All of the operators lowered their roaming rates up to 75% after TRAI cut off the maximum ceiling tariff. Roaming call rates will be cheaper by 40% and SMS by 75%. The above is effective immediately.

For Airtel, incoming rates have been reduced by 40% and outgoing inter-circle calls will be lowered by 23%. Outgoing local call rates will be decreased by 20%, and it reduced local SMS rate by 75%. Outgoing inter-circle SMS rate has been cut by up to 74%.

As for Idea Cellular and Reliance, similarly, these two companies have slashed their roaming call rates by 40%. Idea will now charge incoming calls at 45paise/minute and outgoing is reduced by 20%. Local SMS on Idea will cost 25% lesser, and STD will be charged 38 paise while on roaming.

In the words of Morgan Stanley, American multinational financial service:

Reduction in national roaming ceiling tariff would imply a 2% revenue impact and 4% Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) impact for operators, which could be partly offset by an increase in roaming minutes and any positive differential gains.

Earlier this month, TRAI had cut the maximum rate for STD calls on roaming to Rs 1.15 from Rs 1.50. To read about Vodafone’s new tariff plans, click here.

May 1, 2015
National Roaming Charges Set to Drop From 1st May

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a statement that mobile phone users will be paying 23% less for calls and up to 75% less for sending texts while on roaming. The reduced roaming charges will come to effect on May 1, 2015.

National roaming service lets subscribers to keep using their number while travelling outside the coverage of their home networks. Companies have offered roaming packs in the past which lets users reduce their roaming charges but a government mandated roaming charges will bring relief for all users.

As laid down by TRAI, For outgoing calls on roaming, the present charges of Rs 1 per minute has been slashed down to 80 paise per minute. As for STD calls, the rates has been slashed from Rs 1.50 to Rs 1.15 per minute.

Incoming calls on roaming will now be charged at 45 paise per minute instead of the earlier 75 paise. Local texts will now cost 25 paise while an STD text will be charged at 38 paise.

The rates for national roaming services were last revised in 2013. Telecom companies have been notified to introduce the new roaming tariff’s from May 1. The telecom companies have already been losing revenue to various messaging apps and hence have started attacking net neutrality in India. This order will further cut down their revenue stream. The companies might respond by raising data tariff’s or push for loose net neutrality laws in the country. Though the slash is a good news for the consumers, the developments in the Indian telecom space needs to be watched more vigilantly.

April 10, 2015
Google Might Offer Free International Roaming on Its Mobile Network

Mobile phones have given a boost to communication like no other technology before it. Instead of looking for a telephone in every country you go to, the pocket-sized device is always handy to connect you with your loved ones. But the aspect of international calling that dissuades people from using their mobiles more often while traveling abroad is the high roaming charges, Google is set to challenge these exorbitant charges by introducing free international roaming.

The Silicon Valley giant is working on creating its own mobile phone service and is in talks with operators like Hutchison Whampoa to allow free roaming to its customers. Google will collaborate with other network operators to use their existing infrastructures to offer its services. The company has said that it will be a small scale network but considering Google’s massive resources, the company might aim for bigger scales in the future.

A tie-up with Hutchison will give Google access to countries like UK, Ireland, Italy, and several other countries. It is said that with this move, the company will force the American telecom companies to offer similar services to their US customers. The telecom firms of US like Verizon and AT&T make a lot of profits but are also known for their dismal services.

The recent advancements in the field of communication which includes voice and video calling through apps, free roaming and other features might be troublesome for the telecom companies. Sooner or later the telecom companies will have to shut down their prime service of voice call and text messaging as internet based apps take over their markets. It will be interesting to see how they manage to stay relevant in the coming future.

April 6, 2015