BSNL offers roaming across 164 countries

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) on Thursday announced a slew of initiatives for its mobile subscribers including international roaming, free talk time and a drop in short messaging service (SMS) charges from 60 paise to 40 paise.

BSNL until now did not have agreements with international carriers for offering roaming services.

BSNL also announced free talk time for its post-paid cellular subscribers. Subscribers under Plan 325 (monthly rental of Rs 325) will get free talk time worth Rs 75 and those under Plan 525 will get free talk time for Rs 150 per month.

V.P. Sinha, chairman and managing director, BSNL, said, "BSNL will offer international roaming in 164 countries. The free talk time value for post-paid subscribers and the revised SMS charges will be effective from February 1."

In line with the trend of offering mobile connections in sachet packs, BSNL will introduce two new low denomination pre-paid coupons from February 15. The new pre-paid cards worth Rs 70 will have a talk time of Rs 38 and a validity of 7 days.

A recharge coupon for Rs 150 will have a talk time of Rs 85 and a validity of 15 days. Recently Bharti had introduced a recharge coupon of Rs 50 with a three validity period.

BSNL has also revised tariffs for its wireless in local loop (WLL) limited mobility subscribers which would be effective from March 1.

The new tariffs include lowering of rentals from Rs 200 per month to Rs 120, Rs 180 or Rs 250 based on the area of operation.

This is in line with the monthly rentals of fixed line telephones.

The company will now be offering 50 free calls per month to WLL subscribers. At present, no free calls are offered to WLL users, while fixed line users get around 60 free calls.