Usha Martin To Offer Intl Roaming

Usha Martin Telekom Ltd (UMTL), cellular services operator for Calcutta, is set to offer international automatic roaming facility within a month's time.

Lalit Chainwala, executive director, UMTL told Business Standard: "Trial runs have already been conducted and we are currently engaged in giving it a final shape." The service will be provided under UMTL's "Command" brand.

Earlier this month, Usha Martin Telekom Ltd had raised the pitch of competition in the Calcutta cellular market by unleashing a new brand Yes! The international auto-roaming facility will enable cellular subscribers to make international calls using a single number.

Two clearing houses set up at Hyderabad by Danet Satyam and one by Mac India in Bangalore respectively will be used by cellular operators across the country for bringing this high-end facility. UMTL, which is a member of the Global Connect consortium, currently provides international plastic roaming facilities to nearly 56 GSM countries covering 90 networks using a single phone number.

 

Global Connect had entered into a strategic tie-up with Singapore Telecom (SingTel Mobile) last year for providing this plastic roaming facility.

"We will continue to provide this plastic roaming services once the international automatic roaming takes off," Chainwala said.

"Though there will be a tariff differential between international auto-roaming and plastic roaming, the fact that all incoming calls under plastic roaming are free will continue to attract customers," he said.

He, however, did not rule out the possibility of some subscribers migrating from plastic roaming to international automatic roaming since tariffs under the latter is likely to be more competitive.

Outlining Usha Martin Telekom Ltd's corporate plans, Chainwala said with the cellular infrastructure in place, the company henceforth would chart a more customer-oriented approach and ensure a steady rise in usage time. "We have kept our investment options open and have not set aside any package as such. We are also very close to achieving cash break-even," he said.

Nearly 10 per cent of Command subscribers are expected to make use of the domestic automatic roaming facility launched on Monday. A similar number of subscribers are expected to avail the international automatic roaming facilities.

On an average nearly 20 per cent of subscribers in various networks across the globe regularly use international auto-roaming.