Reliance Infocomm Will Be Cheaper By 50 Percent

[Arun 795]

Press Trust of India - SUNDAY, MAY 09, 2004 02:17:40 PM

MUMBAI:

Cellular major Reliance Infocomm Ltd will not levy roaming charges for both incoming and outgoing calls in India , in sharp contrast to that of existing GSM players, making the company's cellular services cheaper by over 50 per cent than an average GSM player.

"We will continue to offer home tariff rates to customers who travel out of their registered location, even as the stress would be to offer a single rate across the country," Reliance Infocomm President (Wireless Products and Services) S P Shukla told PTI on Sunday.

The company does not incur any additional operational overheads, even while a customer is travelling, as the call would originate and terminate on its nation-wide network, he said adding, "so we have decided not to levy roaming rates".

"We stick to our philosophy of providing affordable mobile services to masses and now will offer affordable roaming service," Shukla said.

All GSM players in the country had hiked roaming rates by Rs 1.50 on May 1, citing an end to the existing promotional offer, which was launched around five months ago.

Not levying roaming charges means Reliance would be only charging call-forwarding rates and customers would have to pay only Rs 1.49 per minute (under plan Rs 149) for mobile-to-mobile outgoing calls while away from home turf, he said.

This is in contrast to the GSM customer, who would be paying a minimum of Rs 1.99 (under plan Rs 149) per minute (under entry level scheme) and an additional Rs 1.50 per minute as roaming charges while the subcriber is away from home.

[anujit 0]

Yes roaming is far far cheaper on RIM. And now that Airtel, Hutch & co have withdrawn their special roaming offer its back to around 5-6 bucks a pop for prepaid users!

However - why does RIM keep saying they dont have any roaming charges! Thats another lie! Outgoing charges may remain the same - BUT THERE ARE INCOMING CHARGES. Cheap yes but charges nevertheless!

[Greens 21]

It's Marketing Gimmick. I think we can tolerate with that.

Earlier roaming means, when you come back you recieve a hefty bill at the end of the month. So if we compare that it's very lite.

Moreover while roaming, outgoing call rates are charged at home tariff.

[anujit 0]

Its exactly what I said Greens! Its the cheapest & best around! And the coverage is pretty fantastic too! A few weeks back I took a train from Calcutta to Madras and I got a signal at every station we stopped at - plus a few of the smaller ones we whizzed by!

They definately have got the best services/cost/features around when it comes to roaming!

My point is - if they have the best roaming services - WHY DO THEY HAVE TO LIE ABOUT IT?

If they had a crummy 2-bit piece of service - and they lied about it one could understand. But its hard to fathom why they do so if they're the best? DAPO & launch nighmares have finally left them?

[city02 63]

Is the free roaming incoming valid for prepaid also?

in any case what are the STD rates for prepaid?

[amc 0]

This is what RelianceInfo.com has to say about romaing for prepaid:

Roaming comes to you free with RIM Prepaid. You only pay for calls as per your home tariff plan.

 

Now that's what we call 'Value Roaming' :

No Roaming rental

No Roaming airtime charge

While Roaming, recharge with any voucher anywhere iin India

[anujit 0]

Incoming roaming isnt free for prepaid or postpaid!

Roaming incoming is charged at RIM to RIM STD charges! For instance for DAPO roaming incoming is charged at 40p/min within the first 400 minutes of usage (it is deducted from the 400 mins) and at Rs. 1.90/min after 400 minutes.

http://www.relianceinfo.com/Infocomm/html/...rimprepaid.html - all prepaid charges are given here pretty clearly!

[sunil_jok 2]

However - why does RIM keep saying they dont have any roaming charges! Thats another lie! Outgoing charges may remain the same - BUT THERE ARE INCOMING CHARGES. Cheap yes but charges nevertheless!

i am sorry guys but i have to dis agree with you all. reliance is quite right in saying that there is no roaming charge.

for gsm mobile phones roaming charge is fixed at rs3, the rest is call forwarding charges. plus the operators commission.

for eg, if i am gsm user roaming in kerala, and my home location is chennai, when i get a call, the charges i incurr are

std chrage from chennai to cochin, anywhere in kerala the std charge is till cochin, i am not sure bout the other states.

roaming charge of about rs.3

plus the operators (roaming network) commission of 10% or something.

let me see if i can find some material on this coz my knowledge about the rate is almost a year old. if i find anything i will post it.

[Utsav 0]

TRAI has made it mandatory for operators that the user's consent is necessary for activation of roaming. So no Auto-enabling any more?