The government will work to make roaming free and allow consumers to keep their mobile numbers even if they move to another state, according to the draft of the new telecom policy unveiled on Monday.
“There will be one nation, one licence across service areas. One nation, full mobile number portability. One nation, free roaming,” said communications minister Kapil Sibal while announcing the new draft policy. However, he refused to give any timeline on when mobile roaming would be made free throughout India. “This is a policy statement applicable in the next 10 years. Hopefully, as we move forward, we will persuade everyone to come on board. There is no time on the policy. It is a 10 years’ policy and this will be implemented in the course of these 10 years,” said the minister.
Also planned are legislative measures to bring disputes between telecom consumers and service providers within the jurisdiction of consumer forums and the Consumer Protection Act. Currently consumer courts refuse to take complaints.