Telecom shares surge on new policy push

A day after the government unveiled the new telecom policy allowing users to avail free roaming services across the country, telecom stocks rose by up to 3% on Tuesday on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), as operators welcomed the government's move.

A day after the government unveiled the new telecom policy allowing users to avail free roaming services across the country, telecom stocks rose by up to 3% on Tuesday on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), as operators welcomed the government's move.

Shares of India's largest private telecom firm Bharti Airtel surged by 3% to Rs 375. Similarly, Idea Cellular rose by 3% to R95 and Reliance Communications was up by 0.5% to Rs 74, while Mahanagar Telephone Nigam ended flat at Rs 31.

The benchmark Sensex closed down 20 points to 16,537.

"There are three main triggers from the NTP-2011," said Mritunjay Kapur, country managing director, Protiviti Consulting. "Firstly, it talks about spectrum re-farming, which could lead to higher spectrum allocation. Secondly, the draft policy also points out that consolidation is inevitable."