Given that national roaming tariffs were last notified in January 2007 through the Telecommunication Tariff Order (44th Amendment), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) decided to undertake a comprehensive review of the roaming tariff framework. This is particularly relevant as the cost components, which are an integral part of national roaming charges, have changed significantly since.

While the access deficit charge regime was phased out in 2008, call termination charges were lowered from Re 0.30 to Re 0.20 per minute in 2009. Further, the National Telecom Policy (NTP), 2012 mentions the review of roaming charges as one of its strategies, with the ultimate objective of eliminating roaming charges across the country.

In 2012, TRAI had brought out a pre-consultation paper to seek inputs from stakeholders for drafting a broad tariff framework for national roaming services. Based on these inputs, it has released a detailed consultation paper, “Review of Tariff for National Roaming”. This paper addresses the various cost components that need to be considered and the manner of recovery of costs if incoming calls are made free of charge. In addition, the paper has asked for stakeholder feedback on the tariff regime for video calls and SMS while on national roaming, and the desirability of special tariff vouchers (STVs) for national roaming services.

Key issues for consultation

•Is the competition in the national roaming service segment robust enough to leave the tariff under forbearance?

•Is it appropriate to implement the home price rule (HPR) for national roaming services? What is the likely impact of such a regime on fair competition in the telecom sector?

•Is it appropriate to implement HPR for national roaming services with the provision of recovery of carriage charge on incoming calls from the calling party?

•Is it appropriate to rationalise the tariff for national roaming services on the basis of current costs?

•Is it appropriate to revise the tariff ceiling for national roaming services in such a manner that incoming calls while roaming are made free of charge and the cost of these calls is recovered through outgoing calls?

•Which of the following approaches would be more appropriate:

•Fixing zero tariff for incoming calls and a tariff ceiling for outgoing calls while on roaming to allow recovery of additional costs from the latter?

•Approaching zero tariff for incoming calls in a phased manner (over a period of, say, three years) by making incoming calls progressively cheaper and facilitating recovery of additional costs from outgoing calls while on national roaming?

•Is there a need to prescribe a tariff for video calls while on national roaming?

•In case the tariff for national roaming services is set, will it be appropriate to prescribe a tariff for an outgoing SMS while on national roaming which is the same as that for an outgoing SMS from the home service area?

•Should STVs with roaming benefits be allowed? Also, if STVs are decided upon, what regulatory restrictions should be imposed?

Though revoking roaming charges across the country has been the most significant aspect of the NTP, 2012, operators have expressed their reservations on the subject. At present, mobile users pay around Re 0.60 per minute in their home circle and Rs 1.25-Rs 1.50 per minute while on roaming in another telecom circle. If free roaming is introduced, operators will have to absorb the additional costs. In light of this, stakeholders are not in consensus with regard to the review of national roaming tariffs. TRAI had, therefore, extended the deadline for receiving stakeholder comments on the consultation paper from end-March 2013 to April 5, 2013.