BSNL has extended its free roaming service by one more year enabling its mobile customers to receive calls at no extra cost while roaming. The decision to extend the facility has been taken in view of overwhelming response of its customers in mobile number portability (MNP) and achieving highest growth of the customer in February and March months as per Trai report.

As per data released by telecom regulator Trai, BSNL had a growth rate of 1.67 per cent in February. It was followed by Bharti Airtel with 1.18 per cent, Vodafone with 1.04 per cent and Idea Cellular with 0.85 per cent whereas the industry average stood at 0.85 per cent. In March, growth rate of BSNL was 1.79 per cent against the industry average of 0.68 per cent. At the end of March 31, BSNL had over 86.34 million mobile phone subscribers.

Did You Know?

• Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (abbreviated BSNL) is an Indian state-owned telecommunications company headquartered in New Delhi.
• It was incorporated on 15 September 2000 and took over the business of providing of telecom services and network management from the erstwhile Central Government Departments of Telecom Services (DTS) and Telecom Operations (DTO), with effect from 1 October 2000 on a going concern basis.
• It is the largest provider of fixed telephony and broadband services with more than 60% market share and sixth largest mobile telephony provider in India.