Telcos: Frequent travellers are rich, don’t need free roaming
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Mumbai: Opposing free national roaming, a section of telecom operators have told the telecom regulator TRAI that it is generally used by the affluent class and therefore it should remain chargeable.
TRAI had come out with a paper to review mobile roaming charges in the country. The government is aiming to make roaming free in the country in the current fiscal year.
“Around 10 per cent of the total customer base use the national roaming facility. Our analysis suggests that the average revenue paid by roaming subscribers (10 per cent of the total customer base) is around 1.6 times of the total ARPU (average revenue per user). These subscribers use roaming services for 4 days in a month. The remaining 90 per cent of the subscribers do not use this facility,” said Bharti Airtel.
Bharti Airtel said that one can conclude that “national roaming facility is generally used by affluent subscribers who travel from one circle to the other and have a higher paying capacity.”
“A reduction in national roaming tariff will certainly benefit affluent subscribers and make them happy but it will be at the cost of the ordinary low income subscribers who would end up subsidising the facility enjoyed by affluent subscribers leading to the masses paying for the classes,” said Bharti Airtel.
Russian major Sistema’s subsidiary Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL) said that roaming service is mostly used by the elite customers including the company executives.
“There is no need for a regulatory protection by bringing the roaming tariffs down for the higher strata. The proposed move of bringing roaming tariffs down may adversely affect overall customer base by cross subsidising and increasing the tariff for the lower strata,” said SSTL.
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