Mobile subscribers of state-run telecom firm BSNL will be able to avail free roaming services across India from June 15 this year.
BSNL will launch free national roaming from June 15, minister for communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said while talking about one year achievements of his ministry.
BSNL has a mobile subscriber base of 77.2 million at the end of March.
Currently, BSNL earns about Rs 150 crore from roaming tariffs, according to BSNL chairman and managing directorAnupam Shrivastava said. He said, though the roaming revenues will come down but expects more number of new subscriber additions going forward because of free roaming facility. The PSU operates across India except Delhi and Mumbai where its sister concern MTNL operates.
Recently, all telecom operators including BSNL, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular had reduced roaming tariffs by 20-40% for their users after telecom regulator TRAI reduced ceiling tariffs for roaming charges.
According to a telecom expert, private telecom players may not follow suit as it is a marketing gimmick by BSNL to attract more users and reduce the churn rate.
The announcement of free roaming by BSNL comes ahead of full mobile number portability (MNP) to start in July this year. It will allow mobile users to retain their numbers across India even after shifting circles/states.
Earlier, full MNP was to be implemented from May 3 but the government extended the deadline to another two months as operators are testing the new software. Also, for implementation of full MNP, the current networks of operators have to be reconfigured to treat a mobile user’s calls in the new circle as local and vice versa besides aligning their network according to the new national numbering plan.
In January 2011, MNP was started across the country. It allowed mobile users to retain their numbers while changing their service providers within a circle/state. Till now, there have been cumulative MNP requests at 150.01 million at the end of February, 2015, according to data from telecom regulator TRAI.
“The government is committed to the revival of both BSNL and MTNL and the turnaround has already started,” he said.
BSNL made profits of about Rs 10,000 crore which was reduced to a loss Rs 7,500 crore in 2014. MTNL, he said, was in profit zone till 2008, but is now incurring losses, Prasad said.In the last one year, BSNL’s revenues has grown by 2.1% which was negative since 2009-10 and added 47 lakh subscribers in the last one year. Under phase VII of BSNL, 15,000 new base tower stations were commissioned in one year, which have reduced call drops and eased congestion.
MTNL added 2.11 lakh subscribers in 2014-15, arresting the negative trend of previous years, and will add 1,680 tower sites in Delhi and Mumbai each.
On the issue of frequent call drops, Prasad said the government is exploring the possibility of bringing in disincentives for telecom operators and incentives for users.
"Call drops need to be minimised. They (private operators) need to reinforce their mechanism. I have directed officials in the department to work on disincentive architecture (for the operators)," he said.