India has proposed to scrap domestic roaming charges and to make it easier for struggling mobile operators to merge, as part of the New Telecom Policy, unveiled yesterday.
The Indian government has announced its proposals to address the issues gripping the nation's telecom sector, including overcowding in the mobile market.
The proposed new policy would remove the price differential between lcoal and inter-regional calls, Economic Timesreported.
But analysts believe operators could lose a combined $400 million in revenue if the proposal goes forward. Currently GSM operators such as Bharti Airtel make nearly 8% of their revenue from domestic roaming charges.
Another goal of the new policy is to facilitate consolidation in the mobile market, where 15 players are bustling shoulders.
Telecom minister Kapil Sibal has announced the consolidation goal, but so far given few details, Reuterssaid.
But one option is the “exit policy” first proposed last month, whereby the telecom ministry would offer to either buy back operators' spectrum, or otherwise entice some operators to surrender their holdings.
Operators have been struggling with intense competition that has driven down tariffs to bargain-basement prices – although there have been signs of this abating lately.