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India: Trai hopes to capitalise on EU roaming rate reductions Print E-mail
Thursday, 24 May 2007

India’s telecommunications regulator, Trai, has asked the EU to allow Indian mobile operators to negotiate with their European counterparts to cut roaming costs. The move comes after members of the European parliament approved a plan to reduce roaming tariffs throughout the EU.

Trai hopes that Indians travelling in Europe would pay the new roaming tariffs. It has requested that the EU facilitate a process so that Indian operators can negotiate with European operators. In return, Europeans travelling to India would pay reduced roaming charges.

"This is just a request. Trai does not have jurisdiction with regard to international roaming, which involves mutual commercial agreements between operators. We have only written to the European Telcoms Commission that Indian interests should also be kept in mind," Trai chairman Nripendra Misra said.

The European Parliament voted to cap roaming tariffs at EUR 0.49 per minute for outgoing calls and EUR 0.24 per minute for incoming calls. According to the new legislation, these tariffs will be lowered to EUR 0.46 and 0.22 for outgoing and incoming calls respectively, in the second year following its introduction, and then to EUR 0.43 and 0.19 by 2009.

Indian mobile operators, on average, charge European customers in India over 1.83 Euros per minute for an outgoing call and EUR 1.37 per minute for an incoming call. Indian mobile users travelling in Europe are charged between EUR 1.65 - 2.20 per minute for an outgoing call and EUR 0.73 - 1.10 per minute for an incoming call.

Source: The Economic Times - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.