BSNL, MTNL slashes roaming charges

New Delhi, Jun 1: Aggravating the price war, state-run telecom operators MTNL and BSNL today said national roaming charges will be slashed to Re 1 for incoming calls and Re 0.40 for outgoing calls within either networks on a new post-paid plan of Rs 550 to be effective from June 3.

Under the new plan with a monthly rental of Rs 550, the subscribers will get 300 minutes (five hours) of free talktime for receiving calls while on roaming.

After exhausting the free talktime, an additional Re 1 will be charged per minute. However, outgoing calls to networks outside the visiting state will be charged at Re 1.

''We expect a significant jump in our traffic and volumes,'' BSNL CMD A K Sinha told reporters here.

Both the operators will offer ISD calls to the US, Canada and Russia at Re 1.75 per cent, Mr Sinha said.

On this occasion, Communication and IT Minister A Raja said other private operators are likely to join the bandwagon in a couple of days, as talks are on with few of them.

When asked about the srapping of domestic roaming charges as announced by his predecessor Mr Dayanidhi Maran, the Minister said, ''No exercise has been done in this regard. This is a first step and we can go along with other future plans.'' About 3G, Mr Raja said, ''A comprehensive and exhaustive policy document in this regard is likely to be placed in the coming Parliament session.'' Telecom Minister A Raja had earlier said his department was looking at the possibility of lowering the domestic roaming charges, as planned by Mr Maran.

Mr Raja further said, ''He wants BSNL to place the Advanced Purchase Order (APO) on a lower price of 100 dollar for its 45-million GSM network expansion plan.'' The 45-million BSNL GSM network expansion plan, already delayed by six months due to a legal battle, could be held up further over prices quoted by the two lowest bidders -- Ericsson and Nokia.

Swedish bidder Ericsson had quoted 107 dollar per line and had got 60 per cent of the 45 million GSM contract, while the second lowest bidder Nokia secured 40 per cent.

UNI