Indian telecom have pitched in with free calls, waiving of roaming charges and treating all calls to Nepal as local calls, in their attempts to support the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal that was affected by a massive earthquake.
On its part, Aircel is offering free calls to Nepal for subscribers for the next two days (April 27 and 28, 2015), while it has also waived off international roaming rental deduction for its pre-paid customers.
“We are extremely distressed to see the mass devastation in Nepal caused by the earthquake and our hearts go out to all affected by this reflection of nature. We sincerely hope that our efforts in connecting the families and friends of the affected in this time of need helps and support them,” said Anupam Vasudev, Chief Marketing Officer of Aircel.
Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest operator by revenue and subscribers, is another operator that has decided to offer free calls to Nepal.
“We are deeply saddened by the severe impact that one of the worst earthquakes in Nepal has had on the lives of its people. As a small gesture during this hour of crisis, we have decided to offer all calls on the Airtel network from India to Nepal completely free of cost for the next 48 hours effective midnight,” the company said in a statement.
The GSM operator is providing all calls to Nepal free for 48 hours, effective midnight of April 25.
Earlier, Idea Cellular said it would be treating all calls to Nepal as local calls, in its efforts to support the disaster relief initiatives. This means that calls rates to the Himalayan country would be charged at Re 1 per minute, against its regular call rate of Rs 12 per minute.
GSM operator Vodafone India has also announced that all calls made from its network from anywhere in India to Nepal will be charged as local calls. Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL), which provides telecom services under the brand MTS, is also levying Re 1 for calls to Nepal, treating all calls as local calls, the company said in a statement.