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TRAI Slashes Mobile Roaming Charges in India TMCnet Contributing Editor Indian mobile phone subscribers were offered a belated New Year gift by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), as it slashed rates for the mobile tariff on national roaming  by up to 56%. Already, the Indian mobile phone tariffs are one of the lowest in the world, with free incoming calls and SMSs on local networks.The new tariff will come into effect from February 15 and it will be applicable to both GSM network and the CDMA platform. TRAI has imposed a fixed ceiling of Rs1.40 ($0.03) a minute for outgoing local calls while roaming. For long distance calls on roaming, there is a fixed ceiling of 2.40 rupees, and for incoming calls the user will be charged Rs 1.75, regardless of the distance.As always, subscribers will receive SMSs for free, while outgoing messages will be charged. But a highly notable feature of this new ruling by TRAI is that cellular operators will no longer be allowed to collect a fixed monthly rental from the subscribers for providing roaming facilities. Most of the cellular operators in India do charge a fixed monthly rental for roaming. The new charges will bring down the mobile roaming rates by 22% to 56%. TRAI feels that the new tariffs are “simple, transparent and distance neutral.” While TRAI feels that the competition in the mobile segment has reached satisfactory levels, the same cannot be said about the roaming segments. TRAI promises to revisit the policy once the competition brings in the market changes. COAI is Unhappy While the mobile phone customers may greet the new ruling by TRAI with joy, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) is not amused. Facing a massive income loss of 800-900 crores of rupees from the niche roaming mobile user segment, COAI is contemplating other methods to balance the loss, including a price hike in the local call tariff. COAI feels that the income roaming charges allowed it to provide services at a low cost to the customers. But now, since the cushion has been snatched away, COAI will have no choice but to increase the local call charges to balance the losses. But even COAI knows it’s a lot easier said than done. COAI is dominated by GSM operators and the CDMA operators and the state owned BSNL may not see the necessity of raising the local charges. BSNL is already providing the roaming facilities in the rates prescribed by TRAI and it will not raise the local call charges to please its competitors. On the other hand, CDMA operators have also refused to play ball. That leaves other GSM operators like Hutch, Airtel, BPL and Idea cornered in an extremely competitive market.The law is not on COAI’s side either. TRAI’s new ruling is based on the data provided by COAI and the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) is unlikely to rule against a pro-user order. Although TRAI currently does not regulate the local call charges, it may choose to do that if there is a need. Even though COAI has threatened to raise local call charges, it is unlikely to do so because of the intense competition and the fear of regulatory intervention. It will be interesting to see how COAI will respond to this situation. Don't forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.-------- Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page. |