Bharti Airtel announces new reduced roaming rates plan

Bharti Airtel Ltd on Friday announced a new service plan that drastically cuts roaming rates by nearly 60 per cent even as a tariff war rages in the world's fastest growing telecom market.

The latest trend in the market is the per second tariff plans to gain or retain a significant presence in the second-largest telecom market in the world. At least four new companies, including Etisalat, DB Telecom Pvt Ltd and Unitech Wireless Ltd are gearing up to launch services in India.
 
Under Bharti's new plan, users would have to pay Rs98 for enrollment and they will be charged Rs0.6 per minute to make or receive calls on the company's network from outside their home service area. Users will be charged Rs0.8 per minute to make calls and 0.6 per minute to receive calls on other networks while roaming.

Analysts say the company will possibly get less average revenue per minute but the usage would be boosted under the new rates.

The three months through September have seen the company's average revenue per user or ARPU slide to Rs252 from Rs278 in the April-June quarter while its average minutes of usage per user also fell to 450 from 478.

However, the new plan is not likely to affect Bharti Airtel's revenue as the one-time enrollment charge, along with the rise in the number of minutes used by customers would offset the reduction in roaming rates according to analysts.

Roaming accounts for around 8 per cent of the company's revenue, say analysts.