BSNL extends free roaming service by one year

State-run telecom firm BSNL on Wednesday extended free roaming service for its mobile subscribers by another year.

"BSNL has decided to extend 'Free National Roaming' facility to its mobile customers for another one year," BSNL said in a statement.

The PSU had launched the scheme last year.

"The decision to extend the facility has been taken in view of overwhelming response of its customers in mobile number portability (MNP) and achieving highest growth of the customer in February and March months as per Trai report," BSNL Director for Consumer Mobility RK Mittal said.

According to the data released by telecom regulator Trai, BSNL had a growth rate of 1.67% in February. It was followed by Bharti Airtel with 1.18%, Vodafone with 1.04% and Idea Cellular with 0.85% whereas the industry average stood at 0.85%.

In March, growth rate of BSNL was 1.79% against the industry average of 0.68%.

At the end of March 31, BSNL had over 86.34 million mobile phone subscribers.