Telecom Operators including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have approached the Telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) expressing concerns over the latter’s proposal of reducing roaming tariffs. Along with this, they have sought an extension for the deadline for implementing pan-India mobile number portability.

Earlier in February 2015, TRAI had proposed a 35 per cent reduction in national roaming tariffs and 80 per cent decrease in SMS charges. It had proposed reducing the ceiling imposed on outgoing local calls in roaming mode from the current rate of Re 1 per minute to Re 0.65 per minute. The operators are of the view that reducing the ceiling will allow roaming calls to be cheaper than local calls. To sustain this tariff structure, operators would have to reduce local call rates, which cannot be accommodated due to rising input costs.

Meanwhile, TRAI has directed telecom operators to implement full mobile number portability by May 3, 2015. This will require additional investments in the networks as a phone number is currently locked to a particular circle. The operators have thus requested the regulator to reconsider its proposals, as the industry already faces a debt of Rs 2.5 trillion, which is likely to increase after the ongoing spectrum auctions.