New Delhi, Jan. 24: Mobile users across the country will now enjoy cheaper roaming charges with telecom regulator Trai today slashing tariffs by up to 56 per cent and doing away with rental for using roaming services.

While IT and communications minister Dayanidhi Maran welcomed the move to reduce roaming charges, the Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI) criticised the decision and threatened to increase local tariffs.

The new rates announced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today will come into effect from February 15. It would reduce roaming tariffs by 22 to 56 per cent compared with current market rates, Trai chairman Nripendra Misra said.

“The new roaming charges for cellular phone subscribers will be Rs 1.40 for outgoing local calls, Rs 2.40 for outgoing STD calls and Rs 1.70 for incoming calls,” Misra added.

Service providers now charge a maximum of Rs 3.99 per minute for incoming calls while roaming and Rs 3.09 per minute for outgoing local calls.

The new tariff would be applicable to all pre-paid and post-paid GSM and CDMA mobile customers.

Also, the rental for roaming services has been done away with and incoming SMS would be free. A surcharge of 15 per cent on air-time while roaming and a separate PSTN (public switch telephone network) charge have also been removed.

The move has been termed as “essential” by Maran. “The introduction of the One-India plan (by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) has changed the way India talks. And for us to match international standards, reduction in roaming charges is essential,” he said.

While consumers are pleased with the telecom regulator, most mobile operators are distressed over the new roaming tariffs.

Most operators argue that Trai’s intervention is unjustified as only a niche segment that can afford to pay a premium uses the roaming facility. Trai, however, considers 1.5 crore consumers large enough to justify a reduction in roaming tariffs, said industry experts.

The Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI) said the industry was likely to take a hit of Rs 800-900 crore because of the reduction in roaming tariffs.

COAI director-general T.V. Ramachandran said, “A decline in roaming tariffs would necessitate an increase in local call tariffs as roaming tariffs were hitherto being priced at a level, which allowed the operators to offer the most economically affordable services to their consumers.”