Metro to parent state mobile calls go local

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New Delhi, May 21: Fulfilling a long-standing demand of the public, the government on Saturday announced that mobile-to-mobile and landline-to-mobile calls made from three metro circles -- Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai -- to other parts of their respective states and between UP-East and UP-West circles would be local calls. Callers will not be required to dial ’0’ before dialling the mobile numbers of subscribers in other parts of these states. This would become effective from May 25, communications & IT minister Dayanidhi Maran said.

Till now, these calls were long distance (STD) ones and consumers had to pay for roaming. Under the new scheme, there would be no roaming charges between Mumbai and Maharashtra, Chennai and Tamil Nadu, Kolkata and West Bengal, UP (East) and UP (West) circles.

"However, the access providers will operate within their existing licensed service areas and shall not be permitted to create infrastructure outside their areas for the purpose of inter-service area connectivity," Mr Maran said. "They will, however, be allowed to lease lines for such connectivity. The inter-service area connectivity will only be for terminating traffic," he added.

Cellular operators have welcomed the government decision saying it heralds an important step in liberalisation of connectivity between circles and would lead to growth.

"This facility would strongly serve consumer interest as it would deliver a series of benefits, including facilitating lower tariffs, serving regional communities of interest, improving business and professional productivity, enabling ease of dialing and improving call quality by reducing traffic congestion," said TV Ramachandran, director-general of the Cellular Operators Association of India.

This decision was an important first step in demolishing artificial barriers between service areas, he said and expressed hope that the next step in extending this facility to all other service areas across the country would be taken soon.

The country’s largest private operator, Bharti, has announced that customers will get the full benefit of these changes. "Airtel customers will avail of all the benefits of no roaming charges, local calls and no zero dialing in these service areas," said Manoj Kohli, president, Bharti Cellular Ltd.

Meanwhile, Mr Maran said the spectrum policy facilitating the service providers to offer next generation mobile and value-added services would be announced within three months. The telecom regulator had earlier this week given its recommendations proposing lowering of spectrum charges and increased allocation of spectrum to both CDMA and GSM-based mobile operators.