AirTel, the Delhi cellular telecom service of Bharti Cellular, has announced the launch of global roaming service for its customers in association with BT Mobile and Cellnet of United Kingdom.
The service will be available in 62 countries and 97 networks across the world.
Roaming is a facility on cellular networks which enables a cellphone user to receive and make calls anywhere in the world and has found many takers with the spread of GSM (global system for mobile communications)-based cellular networks in the world.
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The service allows a cellular subscriber to use the same telephone number anywhere in the world.
Subscribers will have an option of two SIM (subscriber identification module) cards AirTel UK Super and AirTel World to be inserted into cellphones. AirTel UK Super will support roaming in the UK and is aimed at the Indian business traveller there. The AirTel World card, on the other hand, will support cellular services in the 62 countries that Cellnet has a roaming agreement with.
The AirTel UK Super service is priced at Rs 2,000 per month while the AirTel World comes at Rs 2,500 a month.
Besides, subscribers will need to deposit Rs 50,000 which is refundable for the service. There is a one-time connection fee of Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,000 for the AirTel UK Super and AirTel World services.
According to a press release from the company, payments by Indian users for the roaming service will be in Indian rupees.
The international roaming charges will include usual airtime charges ranging from Rs 4 to Rs 16 per minute depending on time of usage plus call tariffs of the Indian international carrier Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
Cellnet a joint venture between British Telecom and Securicor group of the UK covers almost 98 per cent of the countrys population. BT Mobile is a subsidiary of British Telecom, the authorised cellular phone service provider on the Cellnet network. British Telecom owns 22 per cent equity in Bharti Cellular.
Other cellular operators in the country members of the World One consortium, a national group of cellular companies offering national roaming service had earlier tied up with Singapore Telecom to offer international roaming.