BSNL signs intra-circle roaming pact with Vodafone and Reliance Jio

Vodafone and BSNL have announced a 2G intra-circle roaming agreement (ICR) that is designed to benefit their customers and help reduce call drops.

The availability of additional towers is expected to help both the companies address the coverage gap, thereby minimize chances of call drops.

"The agreement will enhance coverage for both Vodafone and BSNL customers," BSNL CMD Anupam Shrivastava told PTI.

The state-run firm, which regained its 5th position in terms of mobile subscribers in June, has nearly 1,14,000 sites across the country with a wide reach in rural areas. Vodafone India, on the other hand has over 1,37,000 mobile sites across the country. The agreement will allow Vodafone to expand its 2G network further, especially in rural areas, and strengthens BSNL's network reach in urban localities.

"We made significant investments to expand, enhance and upgrade our network, making Vodafone SuperNet our best network ever, world-class and future-fit. This partnership with BSNL will further strengthen the reach of our network, especially in the hinterland and surrounding rural areas," Vodafone India MD and CEO Sunil Sood said in a statement.

BSNL has also signed a similar agreement with Reliance Jio for 2G and 4G services. After the finalisation of the agreement, BSNL customers would be able to use Reliance Jio’s 4G services in roaming while the latter’s subscribers could use the state-run firm’s 2G network for making voice calls.

Our aim is to provide cutting-edge digital technology to every Indian through our high-speed 4G-LTE network and this is in spirit of One India,” Reliance Jio Managing Director Sanjay Mashruwala said.