Free roaming to be in place by Oct, says Sibal

Come October, cellphone subscribers will be able to roam throughout the country without paying any additional charges.

Come October, cellphone subscribers will be able to roam throughout the country without paying any additional charges. Union communications and IT minister Kapil Sibal on Saturday announced that nationwide free roaming will be implemented by October. He was speaking at national editors conference.

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Currently, the subscribers have to pay up to Re 1 per minute when they move to another circle.

He also said that the government will soon implement a new licensing regime under which the spectrum will be delinked with the licences. The existing operators will also be able to migrate to the new licensing regime.

Emphasising on the need of making India a manufacturing hub, he said that he has already submitted a policy for chip manufacturing in the country. Under the policy, the companies who set up manufacturing units in India will get tax benefits and economic incentives.

On the controversial issue of Internet governance, Sibal said that Internet is a free medium and it cannot be governed.