Communication and IT Minister Kapil Sibal said that mobile subscribers will not have to pay roaming charges from next year.
The Department of Telecom will work out the modalities of implementing the policy after the spectrum auction in November.
The Finance Ministry had earlier asked the Department of Telecom to speed up the implementation of the policy to abolish mobile roaming charges.
Once roaming charges are waived, mobile users will be able to get incoming calls free of charge and outgoing calls at local rates while travelling anywhere in the country.
The policy was approved by the Union Cabinet in May but the Telecom Department has not yet moved on implementing it. At the time of announcing the policy, the Telecom Ministry had not specified any time frame for making roaming free.
Mobile companies are against abolishing roaming tariffs as this will impact their revenues. Operators charge Re 1 per minute for incoming calls and Rs 1.50 per minute for outgoing calls while roaming. SMS is also priced at Rs 1.50 per message. Once the roaming charges are abolished, then consumers will get free incoming calls and outgoing calls will be at local call level. But before this is implemented, the Department will have to take a decision on pan-India unified licensing. It will also have to take TRAI’s views on key issues such as numbering plan and interconnection to facilitate free roaming services.