BSNL starts offering free roaming across India

New Delhi: State-run telecom firm BSNL today started offering free roaming across the country, which will allow all its mobile customers to receive calls at no extra cost.

"From today no more roaming charges on #BSNL. a step towards realising dream of One Nation-One Number. A promise kept," Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted today.

Government under National Telecom Policy 2012 has set a goal to achieve free roaming gradually.

Among private telecom operators Aircel has started offering free incoming calls to its customers in five south Indian states while on roaming in the region.

"Now BSNL mobile customers will not need to carry multiple SIMs and handsets during roaming. They are free to talk as long as they want without worrying of any charges during incoming calls," BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said in a statement.

BSNL had a mobile subscriber base of 7.72 crore as of March, 2015.