Roaming in Pak only on Airtel

While Bharti Cellular has started offering roaming services in Pakistan, other mobile operators like Hutch and Idea will have to wait a while before they can follow suit.

This is because Bharti has an exclusivity agreement with Pakistani mobile service provider Mobilink for the first two weeks.

The Hutch spokesperson in Delhi, however, said the company was not aware of any exclusivity agreement between Bharti and Mobilink.

"We are in discussions with the Pakistani mobile operator and our roaming services should be in place in the next few days," he said.

Since Mobilink is the only cellular operator in Pakistan, its exclusivity deal with Bharti shuts out other service providers for the first two weeks.

More than 15,000 Indians are expected to visit Pakistan over the next one month for the cricket series, and with tariffs between Rs 35 and Rs 45 a minute, mobile operators stand to earn substantial revenue by offering roaming services.

If other mobile operators are not able to interconnect with Mobilink, Bharti will stand to gain for two weeks.

Bharti executives, however, pointed out that Airtel's roaming rates in Pakistan was among the lowest in the world, with roaming in other sectors like the US costing as high as Rs 50 a minute.

However, industry sources pointed out that the communications ministry could step in if subscribers of other operators were denied roaming in Pakistan.

Communications Minister Arun Shourie had yesterday announced resumption of roaming services between India and Pakistan on an experimental basis. The service was banned after the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2002.