TRAI to allow conditional free mobile roaming

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said it would allow carriers to offer free nationwide mobile roaming to subscribers for a fixed fee from July 1, in a partial relief to operators, some of whom had opposed a proposal to completely abolish roaming charges.

Currently, subscribers pay an additional fee for making and receiving calls when they are outside their home zone. India is divided into 22 telecoms zones.

The government had earlier proposed to completely abolish roaming charges, but the regulator said on Monday that would not be "practicable at this juncture", because telecoms companies would not be able to recover their costs.