Lok Sabha
The Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology, Dr. Shakeel Ahmad, informed the Lok Sabha today, in a written reply to a question by Shri Shishupal N. Patle, Shri Sugrib Singh and Shri Kishanbhai V. Patel that the roaming charges levied by different operators have to be within the ceiling tariff prescribed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). TRAI, after consultation with all the stakeholders and indepth analysis has prescribed the following revised roaming tariff which has come into effect from 15.2.2007:
v Rs. 1.40 per minute for outgoing local calls
v Rs. 2.40 per minute for outgoing National Long Distance calls
v Rs. 1.75 per minute for incoming calls
The other salient features prescribed while regional/national roaming are:
v No rental permitted in any form
v No surcharge is leviable for any of the roaming services
v No separate PSTN charges on roaming calls
v Receiving SMS is free
The revised tariffs are lower to the extent of 22% to 56% compared with the then prevailing market rates. This is in addition to the saving for the customers on account of abolition of rentals, the Minister added.
RM/AMA – 140307 Roaming charges USQ 2232