Honest 836 Report post Posted September 5, 2008 BSNL set to allow private telcos roam on its network 6 Sep, 2008, 0115 hrs IST, ET NEW DELHI: State-owned BSNL has opened talks with private telcos for roaming agreements. If the talks are successful, subscribers of private operators will finally be able to roam on BSNL’s nation-wide network. While all private telcos have roaming agreements with each other, BSNL, till date, has not opened up its networks for roaming deals. At present, only subscribers of state-owned MTNL (whose services are restricted to Delhi and Mumbai) are allowed to roam on BSNL’s networks. Private telcos have been seeking commercial agreements with BSNL on roaming for years now as the state-owned telco has a superior network in smaller towns, villages, on highways and railways. “We are evaluating the proposals from private operators. We are open to sharing our networks with them for commercial roaming agreements. If we can do it with one operator (MTNL), we can replicate such deals with other players too. Talks are on and we may conclude some agreements soon,” a top BSNL executive told ET. As per industry estimates, BSNL will get upwards of Rs 750 crore annually by signing commercial roaming deals with private operators. It is also learnt that BSNL wants a higher revenue sharing between operators for roaming customers, over and above the fixed 30-paise-per-minute charge the regulator has granted the operator on whose network the roaming call is terminated. The logic: BSNL feels that since all operators treat their roaming customers differently by charging a much higher tariff that is not cost-based, there should be revenue share between roamer’s home network and the terminating network. Another reason why BSNL is opening talks with private telcos was on account of the department of telecom’s (DoT’s) plans to make it mandatory for all telcos to open their networks for roaming after the introduction of 3G services. This is because, the DoT is of the view that there would only be a limited number of 3G service providers. Besides, 3G services are likely to be restricted to the metros and key circles initially. Therefore customers of these telcos who offer 3G will have to depend on 2G networks and services of other telcos. Another option for customers is to switch on to the 3G networks of BSNL since the PSU will be the only operator to roll-out these high-end services across all circles. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Himanshu Singh 19 Report post Posted September 5, 2008 its a good news for two types of gsm telcos. first those who dont have pan india network. second the new telcos who would start offering services one by one circles and would need roaming partner to enable customers roam easily. now what it means for airtel the so called big daddy of indian telecom? it means loss of potential revenue as most of the upcoming operators would have qued upto it for an agreement. the existing operators who are in agreement with airtel for roaming would also do a re think more so because airtel increased the termination charges for roaming calls from 30paise to 60 paise earlier this year when airtel slashed the long distance call rate thats why for instance idea still charge the earlier roaming rate from its customers roaming on airtel network. one more thing bsnl should do is to carry std traffic of private gsm telcos and offer cheaper options than airtel. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honest 836 Report post Posted September 6, 2008 And this will be beneficial to all of us who visit very remote places where their is no other service provider then BSNL. So now if the above talks are successful then we all will be connected even in the remote locations all over India. Regards. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honest 836 Report post Posted September 14, 2008 BSNL allows roaming with private telcos 14 Sep, 2008, 1235 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: Mobile subscribers are likely to enjoy seamless connectivity throughout the country soon, as state-run BSNL has decided to share its network with private telcos for roaming agreements. In a Management Committee meeting recently, the PSU approved a proposal in this regard. "The MoU in this regard may be signed with the seeking operators initially for six months only on non-exclusive and experimental basis," a BSNL internal circular of the Management Committee meeting said. BSNL will sign the first roaming agreement with new telecom operator Swan Telecom, the circular said. The committee has decided to levy roaming charge of 52 paise a minute per outgoing call. "The Management Committee, after detailed discussion, has decided that roaming charge of 52 paise per outgoing call may be offered for the intra-circle roaming service seeking operators," it said, adding BSNL would review the charge after initial six months and it could be revised up or downward based on prevailing conditions and volume of business. The committee said only the idle capacity of the network will be used to earn extra revenue. The incremental additional cost of of the upgradation of equipment to provide roaming will be borne by the seeker operators. With this, subscribers of private operators will finally be able to roam on BSNLs nation-wide network. While all private telcos have roaming agreements with each other, BSNL, till date, has not opened up its networks for roaming deals. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
