Nepal earthquake: Call traffic from India sees massive jump

NEW DELHI: There has been a staggering jump in telephone call traffic from India to earthquake-ravaged Nepal in the last two days, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said.

"Idea has noticed a 40 per cent increase in traffic while Airtel and Reliance experienced a 50 per cent increase in traffic yesterday. MTNL has also reported a 50 per cent rise in traffic. Vodafone traffic increase is 300 per cent," Prasad said in a Facebook post yesterday.

Indian telecom operators are either allowing free calls to the quake-hit Nepal or charging them as per the local rate.

BSNL and MTNL have taken the lead in this regard. A normal ISD call costs the consumer between Rs 7-12 per minute.

"Traffic management is being put in place to cater to additional traffic. Network of UTL, a joint venture of MTNL (in Nepal), is operational satisfactorily," the minister said.

While Airtel and Aircel have decided not to charge for calls made to Nepal, others have decided to charge local rates.

While the Airtel offer ends midnight of April 27-28, Aircel's will be up to April 28.

Aircel has also made incoming free for its customers on international roaming in Nepal.

Videocon has announced to charge 90 paise per minute. Vodafone, which has seen a maximum jump in traffic, is charging Re 1 per minute for all calls made to Nepal up to 10 am of April 28.

Reliance Communications has enabled all customers to make calls to Nepal as per the local rate even if they have not activated the ISD facility.

MTS and Uninor are also charging calls to Nepal as per the local rate.

The former's offer will end tonight.