The move to scrap national cellphone roaming charges from 2013 will be welcomed by frequent travellers but not necessarily by telecom firms. The only way these companies can make up for lost revenue is to hike the cost of local calls, which means the vast majority may have to pay more for the benefit of the minority who roam from home networks.
Those who roam may save up to 50 per cent on mobile bills, but over 700 million may have to pay 10 per cent more as basic call charges.
On the face of it, this appears a sweeping reform as caller and receiver will no longer have to pay more when making or receiving calls away from their home circle. Such charges had been scrapped a long while back in several other nations.
A breakthrough reform came sometime back when the cost of calls was reduced to one rupee per minute, with operators offering discounts on that too to raise teledensity in urban and rural areas. Much remains to be done to rework the policy, to determine what will happen to interconnect charges, which also spell a lot of revenue.
Operators with pan-India licences who handle most calls on their own networks will benefit most, while new entrants and regional players may remain dissatisfied. The average Indian will be happy at not having to pay more while roaming, but a lot more has to be done before the rural Indian gets a basic device that helps him stay in touch.