Much to the delight of Indian mobile users, from the beginning of next month, call rates on roaming networks will be decreased by 23% and local SMS rates would be decreased to 75% of its present value. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has ordered the telecom service providers to carry out its decision from May 1, 2015.
Should the changes be made effective, telecom operators would charge Rs 1.15 per minute for STD calls. Presently, the normal charges are Rs 1.5 per minute. SMS charges would cut down to just 38 paisa per SMS from Rs 1.5 per SMS. All local SMS will be charged as 25 paisa per SMS, which was earlier Rs 1 per SMS.
Also, the TRAI has set the maximum rate for outgoing calls to be 80 paisa per minute. It was earlier set to Rs 1 for a minute. However, incoming calls would be charged at 45 paisa per minute, which was earlier charged as 75 paisa per minute. The regulator had released a statement, which mentioned that these changes were brought upon keeping the subscriber benefits in mind. This could also induce new competitive pricing among other telecom companies.
Currently, the annual revenue that the nation makes through mobiles is nearly Rs 1 lakh crore. Roaming charges contribute to only 5 or 6% to it. It is very likely that millions of mobile users across the nation will be benefited from this decision. Especially, those who need to be in constant touch via calls and SMSes when being on outstation, will be largely benefited.
Roaming services are what the telecom operators to provide the subscriber when he or she is no longer in her home network coverage. The telecommunication services are extended to the subscriber by using a visited network. The country is divided into 22 licensed service areas
These tariff for national roaming services had been last revised during 2013. This had taken place through the Telecommunications Tariff Order of the 55th Amendment, dated June 17, 2013.
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