The Hindu Business Line : TEC finds no fault with Reliance 'roaming'

THE Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) under the Department of Telecom (DoT) has found no fault with Reliance Infocomm Ltd offering multiple subscription and temporary subscription, which, rival cellular mobile providers claim, amounts to "roaming".

In its report to the Government, TEC has said Reliance Infocomm "appeared to follow the licensing conditions." Under DoT instructions, a TEC team inspected the services being offered by Reliance by taking a `Reliance WLL Mobile' connection and visiting various switching sites of the company.

In its observations, TEC said Reliance provides three additional numbers for Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad to a Delhi subscriber. The subscriber can be reached by using any of the four numbers, irrespective of his location. On moving out of the circle, the subscriber has to get authenticated at the new SDCA (Short Distance Calling Area) and take a new directory number by dialling *444 followed by the number of days for which the service is needed.

The TEC report says it could not ascertain if Reliance levied any roaming charges when the subscriber moves out of the SDCA. It has suggested that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) could explore the issue from the tariff angle.

When contacted, a Reliance spokesperson said a subscriber has to pay the company's STD charge of 40 paise per minute to receive a call in a new SDCA. Local calls within the new SDCA, however, are not charged anything extra, he said.

The alleged "backdoor roaming" by Reliance has been strongly opposed by the cellular service providers who say it violates the spirit of the licensing agreement.

The issue is expected to come up at the meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Telecom here on Sunday. The GoM, chaired by the Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, is expected to discuss unified licensing and the alleged irregularities by Reliance Infocomm in providing roaming to its subscribers.

The Reliance spokesperson said the "roaming" being provided by the company was different from the seamless service provided by cellular companies. "While moving from one SDCA to another, the call gets dropped. Even when the subscriber reaches a new location, the phone can be used only after he registers using the TSS (Temporary Subscription Service)," he said.

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