Airtel fast-forwards death of roaming charges

New Delhi: The era of roaming charges in India is coming to an end. India’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday announced that its customers while roaming will enjoy free incoming calls and SMSes and there will be no premium on outgoing calls, allowing them to speak freely wherever they are within the country.  

Airtel said that there will be no additional data charges on national roaming. Home data packs for customers will apply even while they roam across India. Airtel also said international call rates will be cut by up to 90 per cent to as low as Rs 3 per minute and data charges by up to 99 per cent to Rs 3 per MB across popular roaming destinations. The offer comes into effect from  April 1.

It was Jio who first offered zero roaming charges as being a newcomer it aggressively tried to poach customers from old operators in an increasing mature telecom market. However, Airtel’s decision to scrap roaming charges means that the industry as a whole is now moving towards free roaming. Others operators are expected to soon announce zero roaming charges in the coming days.

“This marks the death of national roaming and the whole country will now be like a local network for our customers, who will not have to think twice before making or receiving calls or using data while travelling outside their home base,” said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel.

Airtel said it has already launched innovative and affordable International roaming packs for all major countries across the world. These packs come with convenient validity options of 1 day, 10 days, and 30 days.

“Starting April 1, 2017, even customers on international roaming ‘Without a (roaming) Pack will be fully protected from bill shocks through an automatic adjustment that is equal to the daily pack for that particular country.”