Mobile phone users roaming outside their home circles will get substantial relief on tariffs as leading mobile phone companies on Monday waived of charges for incoming calls, in line with Trai's recent diktat.
India's largest telco Bharti AirtelBSE 1.07 % launched two plans for its prepaid subscribers. In the first, customers will pay 5 a day for receiving calls at no charge and will have to pay 1.5 paise per second or 90 paise per minute for making calls while roaming. The second plan allows prepaid customers to avail the same benefits for 79 a month.
The telco's website also offers plans for post paid subscribers. A top up pack of 75 a month allows free incoming calls on roaming, all other charges remaining the same as per the consumer's pre-subscribed plan.
It offers two additional plans - at 99 and 499 - where incoming calls are free while the rest of the services are charged. For instance, outgoing local and STD calls on roaming will be charged 1.5 and 1.2 a minute, respectively.
In a third plan at 99 a month, incoming calls will be charged 75 paise a minute and the same charge will apply on outgoing local and STD calls.
Idea CellularBSE 0.76 % introduced vouchers that allow consumers to roam anywhere in the country but pay rate as low as what they pay while making or receiving calls in their home circles.
Valid for six months, the new value vouchers priced between 230-240 offer free incoming calls while those priced between 35-40 offer same rates for local, STD, ISD calls and SMS, as the user pays while in the home circle. Idea also reduced incoming roaming charges to 75 paise a minute for users who avail 35-40 vouchers.
Vodafone India is also expected to announce similar plans soon. Last month, the telecom regulator lowered mobile phone roaming charges by up to 30% and allowed operators to float conditional free roaming plans.
