International roaming is a ripoff
The average cost to call India from the US is 10 cents or Rs 4.41/minute but Indian roamers are charged Rs 140 or almost 32 times this amount.
By Shalini Singh, TNN |
NEW DELHI: Why do you end up with a hole in your pocket every time you travel abroad and use your mobile phone? Why does the phone bill suddenly go through the roof? It’s because international roaming charges are prohibitively high — each time you make a call overseas on your mobile, you pay anything between 20 and 40 times more than what you would if you made the same call from your home country.
This skewed billing pattern is not peculiar to India. In fact, it is universally recognised as one of the biggest uncontrolled globally networked scams, involving self-serving reciprocal arrangements that allow mobile operators around the world to rip off customers while they are roaming internationally.
Global roaming tariffs, say telecom industry analysts, represent a failure of regulatory oversight by some of the world’s leading regulators. ‘‘ Regulators have clearly looked the other way while operators join at the hip to openly run a cartel that works on a principle of ‘you fleece my subscriber while I fleece yours’ ,’’ said Anil Kumar of Telecom Watchdog, an NGO.
Consider this: While the ISD tariff for calling most countries from India is a flat Rs 6.40/minute (barring the Gulf, for which the rate is Rs 9.19/minute), an international roamer is charged up to Rs 150/minute for the same call.
Whether you are travelling to the US, UK, Singapore or Dubai — the four most frequented destinations for Indians — or almost any other international destination, the story is the same.
While the average cost to call India from the US is 10 cents or Rs 4.41/minute, Indian roamers are charged Rs 140 or almost 32 times this amount. To call India from the UK is even costlier at Rs 150/minute.
This skewed billing pattern is not peculiar to India. In fact, it is universally recognised as one of the biggest uncontrolled globally networked scams, involving self-serving reciprocal arrangements that allow mobile operators around the world to rip off customers while they are roaming internationally.
Global roaming tariffs, say telecom industry analysts, represent a failure of regulatory oversight by some of the world’s leading regulators. ‘‘ Regulators have clearly looked the other way while operators join at the hip to openly run a cartel that works on a principle of ‘you fleece my subscriber while I fleece yours’ ,’’ said Anil Kumar of Telecom Watchdog, an NGO.
Consider this: While the ISD tariff for calling most countries from India is a flat Rs 6.40/minute (barring the Gulf, for which the rate is Rs 9.19/minute), an international roamer is charged up to Rs 150/minute for the same call.
Whether you are travelling to the US, UK, Singapore or Dubai — the four most frequented destinations for Indians — or almost any other international destination, the story is the same.
While the average cost to call India from the US is 10 cents or Rs 4.41/minute, Indian roamers are charged Rs 140 or almost 32 times this amount. To call India from the UK is even costlier at Rs 150/minute.
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