3G Roaming: Filling the Gaps!

Significant disparities in the outcome of the recent 3G license distribution-where none of the operators obtained licences for all the 22 circles-have already opened the doors to enable operators to offer a more seamless 3G experience across India, to boost 3G uptake and to enable the rapid launch of higher value innovative services which can potentially open up more monetization opportunities.

The encouragement from the department of telecommunications for infrastructure sharing and appropriate legislation or amendment of licensing conditions gave rise to Intra/Inter Circle Roaming (ICR) scenarios, whereby operators enter into agreements to provide network connectivity via passive or active infrastructure sharing, leaving the subscriber unaware that he or she is roaming. According to DoT, this will help in terms of faster rollout of new services and greater affordability of services.

MTNL and BSNL were the first ones to float the idea of inter circle 3G roaming in India when they launched 3G 2 years back.

“If a 3G customer of a certain operator is moving to a different service where the operator does not have 3G services, then it is a restrictive practice. You cannot stop someone from roaming, neither would you like to. This way we can get an extra revenue stream for our unutilized resources. For this model, we have asked for 20% revenue share and a fixed cost of `140 crore per city per year. We are very optimistic that something positive would turn out soon,” says Kuldip Singh, chairman and managing director, MTNL.

There are no doubts that initiatives have been taken in the past few months by operators to come up with ICR agreements, but in bits and pieces.

Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea are working with each other to have nationwide presence through intra circle roaming agreements.

Airtel has entered into a bilateral roaming agreement, both inter and intra circle, with Vodafone and Idea to provide 3G services to customers in the circles where it has not built its own 3G network.

Bharti airtel has 3G licences in 13 circles, including Delhi and Mumbai, while Idea Cellular and Vodafone have 11 and 9 circles, respectively, out of the total 22 telecom circles. Since these 3 companies do not cover the entire nation, they would use each other's network to give connectivity. Also, Bharti has entered in an intra-circle roaming agreement with Idea to offer 3G services in Gujarat. Its tariff plans are the same as those it offers in circles where it has its own network.

Vodafone is offering 3G services in 49 towns and cities of Andhra Pradesh to its subscribers using Idea's network. In Kerala too, it is using the service provider's network for offering 3G.

Vodafone has launched 3G services in Bengaluru through an intra-circle roaming agreement with airtel as it does not have a 3G spectrum in the circle.

“We have tied-up with other operators through the ICR arrangement to provide 3G services to Vodafone customers in regions where we do not have 3G licences,” confirms Marten Pieters, MD and CEO, Vodafone Essar.

On the other hand, Idea is offering 3G services in Delhi and Kolkata using Vodafone's network because it has no spectrum in these cities. Presently, qualities of experience for inter-operator calls are being tested. Roaming agreements-inter and intra circle-are the norm in the Indian telecom industry, since they help a service provider to provide seamless service to its customers. Other benefits include reduced costs of operations through savings in opex and capex, which can either be passed on the subscribers or directly benefit the bottom line. Ultimately, the overall financial health of the industry improves, representing a 'win-win' for both operators and subscribers alike. The spread of 3G is still too slow and many regions of India still await services. With more ICR tie-ups, we can see a much better scenario in coming years!

Akanksha Singh
akankshas@cybermedia.co.in