MUMBAI, June 15: The department of telecommunications (DoT) is expected to rake in an additional Rs 10-12 crore per annum as revenues from cellular operators by way of auto-roaming charges. This follows the charges imposed by DoT on auto roaming after the department gave its approval to provide subscribers the service.Cellular-industry sources say revenues from auto-roaming charges to DoT can even go up to as high as Rs 27-36 crore per annum as it is directly linked to the bill incurred by the subscribers.
According to the approval given a few months ago, the operators have to pay DoT Rs 25 per roaming subscriber per month or 5 per cent of the monthly roaming bill incurred by the subscriber, whichever is higher. According to the sources, about 15-20 per cent of the subscribers are expected to take to auto roaming. With the number of subscribers approaching one million, the figure for those with the auto-roaming option is expected to be in the region of 1.5-2 lakh.
Cellular companies charge subscribersRs 1,000 per month for auto roaming, which is in addition to the monthly rental of Rs 156. This, in effect, means that auto-roaming charges the operators will have to pay DoT will amount to Rs 50 per subscriber per month (5 per cent of the minimum roaming bill of Rs 1,000 as it is higher than the flat fee of Rs 25 per subscriber per month).
With about 1.5-2 lakh subscribers expected to take to auto roaming, the minimum amount the operators will have to pay DoT will be between Rs 9 crore and Rs 12 crore. Industry sources said that the actual amount paid by the operators would be much higher as the people who take to the option are mainly high-usage customers.
ccording to them, the roaming bill incurred by these subscribers will, on an average, be about three times the minimum Rs 1,000 per month. With an average billing of Rs 3,000 per subscriber per month, the operators will have to pay about Rs 1,800 per subscriber per annum to DoT as roaming charges. This will translate itself into a revenue of Rs 27-36crore per annum for DoT depending on the number of subscribers.
Auto roaming was introduced by cellular operators a few months ago after DoT gave its approval. With auto roaming, the user can use his or her cellular phone anywhere in the country without having any change in either the number or the SIM card, which was not possible earlier.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
