Telecom stocks continue to rise; surge up to 5 pc

MUMBAI: Extending yesterday's gains, telecom stocks today surged as much as 5 per cent after sectoral regulator Trai decided not to make roaming services completely free of charge for subscribers.

Idea Cellular rallied 4.52 per cent to close the day at Rs 147.90. Bharti Airtel gained 2.83 per cent to settle at Rs 299.70 and was the biggest gainer among Sensex 30 blue-chips.

Shares of Reliance Communications rose by 2.38 per cent to close the trade at Rs 126.65 on the BSE.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India allowed free mobile roaming as an option only on payment of a fixed fee from July 1, while reducing national roaming charges for other subscribers by up to 57 per cent.

"In the context of prevalent concerns regarding free- roaming, we believe that Trai order is positive for the industry and provides flexibility to subscribers as well as operators," Motilal Oswal Securities has said in a report.

"Complete abolition of roaming charges would have resulted in higher impact for operators and forced them to raise tariffs," it added.

Meanwhile, in the stock market, the BSE benchmark Sensex ended the day at 19,245.70, up 22.42 points.