Telecom minister Kapil Sibal on Monday said that there would be no roaming charges from next year. He said that abolishing roaming charges was part of National Telecom Policy 2012. He was speaking to the media persons on the sidelines of the curtain raiser event of India Internet Governance Conference.
"From next year, our secretary has told you that it will be free from next year," communications minister Kapil Sibal said in response to a question on when roaming charges would be done away with, as was promised in the National Telecom Policy 2012.
At present, mobile users pay around 60 paise a minute in their home market while shelling out Rs 1.25-1.50 a minute while roaming in another telecom circle.
According Rajan Mathews, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India, the industry group that represents the GSM lobby the move will benefit only 10% of the customers.
Another apprehension is that the telecom operators may hike tariff in order to make up for the losses incurred on roaming charges front. |