Mobile roaming free in India, but when?

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The free nationwide roaming announced by the Cabinet, on 31 May has come as a boon for 800 million strong subscribers in India. The industry is, however, in no hurry and advocates wider consultation as nearly 10 per cent of their revenue comes from roaming.

Speaking to CIOL, telecom secretary R Chandrashekhar said that the government needs to rework on the issue. ''We'll soon start consultation process with the TSPs as it needs to be discussed appropriately,'' he informed.

The government, Chandrashekhar said, has not yet come up with a clear deadline. The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) is, however, chalking out strategy to facilitate government's diktat of free nationwide roaming, before 2014 Lok Sabha polls.   

COAI director general Rajan S Mathews said that a final call on implementation of free roaming would be taken by the DoT. ''This proposal for no additional charges for roaming across the nation is complex, serious and potentially disruptive matter,'' he informed.

The subject, Mathews said deserves careful consideration of operational implications. Hence, COAI has been of the view that there should be a comprehensive consultation process. He also believes that telcos financial and operational aspects should be taken on board.

The industry is demanding readressal of various painpoints that could pave path to free roaming. These issues, COAI believes, include tariff rebalancing, interconnection-centric issues, traffic routing, revised national numbering plan and licensing terms and conditions.

''Roaming revenues help many operators cross-subsidize voice calls. Once this cushion is not available, we might see tariffs of voice calls go up,'' Mathews informed. COAI has been batting for industry consultation, critical regulatory and legal assessment, and competent analytical evaluation. 

Industry estimates that free roaming will impact nearly 5 to 8 per cent subscribers only, but it could reduce revenue margins by as much as 8 to 10 per cent. ''The net impact of this could be to raise overall tariffs due to the cross subsidization that is often the practice among international service providers,'' added Mathews.