Roaming just got cheaper, says TRAI

Here's an amazing way to start a new month. As promised earlier, top telecom operators such as Vodafone, Idea cellular, Reliance Communications and Airtel have announced reductions in mobile roaming tariff effective from May 1 as per guidelines from TRAI. As per the guidelines, call rates will be cheaper by 40 percent and SMS by 75 percent. From today Vodafone customers will have to pay 45 paise/minute as opposed to earlier 75 paise/minute for receiving calls while on roaming. Similarly, outgoing local and STD calls will now be charged 80 paise and Rs. 1.15 where before customers had to pay Re. 1 and Rs. 1.50. As per the revised tariffs for roaming, Idea will now offer incoming calls at just 45 paise/minute, a reduction of 40 per cent. Outgoing Local call rates have been reduced by 20 per cent and STD call rates by 23 per cent. Local SMS will now be available for just 25 paise and STD SMS for just 38 paise on roaming nationally. RCom has also slashed their incoming call tariff by 40 percent while for outgoing calls made, the new rates are 23 percent lower. Airtel reduced outgoing call (local and STD) rates while roaming by about 20-23 per cent while outgoing SMS reduced by 74-75 per cent. Even incoming calls have been reduced by up to 23 per cent, according to the company. However the best thing about the whole news is that the plans start from today, not a month from now or some date which we won't even remember. So, if any of you readers are on roaming right now, let us know.

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Source: Business Standard