Telecom pivotals in demand

Bharti Airtel (up 2.80%), Idea Cellular (up 2.76%) and Reliance Communications (up 1.40%), edged higher.

The S&P BSE Sensex was up 137.03 points, or 0.71% at 19,314.96.

As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) mandate, outgoing local call charges, while on roaming, will be capped at Rs 1 per minute from Rs 1.40 earlier, while outgoing STD charges, while on national roaming, have been capped to Rs 1.50 from Rs 2.40 per minute earlier.

The ceiling tariffs for incoming calls while on national roaming have been reduced from Rs. 1.75 per minute to 75 paise per minute, TRAI said. Outgoing local SMS-es will cost Rs 1, while outgoing STD SMS will cost Rs 1.50. Incoming SMS will remain free of charge. The changes will be effective from 1 July 2013.

India is divided into 22 telecoms zones. Currently, subscribers pay an additional fee for making and receiving calls when they are outside their home zone.

The government had earlier proposed to completely abolish roaming charges, but the regulator said today that would not be practicable at this juncture, because telecoms companies would not be able to recover their costs.

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