Reliance Jio effect: Airtel says roaming free, cuts international calls and data cost

Bharti Airtel has cut the cost of its data packages by 99%, the telecom major said on Monday. It also said that roaming charges across the country will be done away with from April 1, while international calls will cost as less as Rs 3 per minute. 

On roaming charges, it said, "the whole country will now be like a local network for customers," according to  BTVi tweets. 

The telco also said that there will be no additional data charges on national roaming and home data pack charges would apply even while on roaming across the country. 

The cost of international calls have been cut by 90% to Rs 3 per minute while the cost of data has been slashed by 99% across various packs. 

The move comes soon after Reliance Jio head Mukesh Ambani, in a shareholders' meet recently, said that while it would start billing its services from April 1, its voice calls would always remain free. He also said that there would be no roaming charges any anyone. 

The cut in data cost, rate of international calls and roaming charges was on expected lines after the Reliance Jio announcement. Jio's entry into the domestic telecom market has started a price war among the telcos. 

They have also been led to a consolidation mode with Vodafone looking to merge its India operations with Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel looking to snap up Telenor's India operations.