Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on Monday announced the launch of the international prepaid roaming facility with cellular operators in five countries including France and Sweden. According to multiple releases by the BSNL Chennai circle, the international prepaid roaming facility unveiled by the operator on Monday will be applicable to the BSNL prepaid users in the Chennai circle. In its releases, the state-run operator highlighted that its prepaid users can now enable international roaming in five countries including France, Sweden, Thailand, Iceland and Afghanistan. BSNL said that the international prepaid facility in the five countries are effective from January 16, 2021.
BSNL Unveils International Prepaid Roaming Facility in Five Countries
The state-run operator highlighted that it has enabled the prepaid roaming facility with Hi3G in Sweden, Bouyges Telecom in France, TriNet in Thailand, MTN in Afghanistan and Vodafone in Iceland.
In Sweden, BSNL said that its prepaid users will be charged Rs 62.86 per minute for all local and national calls while users will be charged Rs 44 for all calls to India. The BSNL prepaid users in France will be charged Rs 12.57 per minute for all local and national calls while Rs 50.29 will be charged for calls to India.
In Thailand, BSNL said that its users will be charged Rs 6.63 per minute for all local and national calls while Rs 38.70 will be charged for calls to India. Similarly, it was said that BSNL users in Iceland will be charged Rs 39.87 for all local and national calls while calls to India will be charged at Rs 107.76 per minute.
BSNL also said that its prepaid users in Afghanistan will be charged Rs 49.20 per minute for all national calls while calls to India will be charged at Rs 118.09 per minute.
BSNL Prepaid Users Required to Collect New SIM
The operator in its releases highlighted that the prepaid users are “required to replace their existing prepaid SIM and collect new international roaming SIM” to enable the international prepaid roaming facility.
It was also highlighted that the BSNL prepaid users in the five countries including France and Sweden will be charged for all voice calls including the terminated calls. The operator also said that its users will be charged for the data and SMS while calls to other international countries excluding India will invite respective charges.
Crucially, BSNL said that the roaming tariff in the five countries were “calculated as per exchange rate” on December 23, 2020 with the tariffs applicable till March 31, 2021. It was also said that the international roaming facility will be available to the BSNL prepaid users post the activation of the special tariff voucher (STV) IR57.
