PTI 
       
NEW DELHI, Feb 15: Telecom major Bharti Airtel has reduced roaming tariffs by up to 56 per cent and also scrapped the rental for roaming services as per the telecom regulator TRAI's guidelines issued last month.

The roaming tariff, which would be applicable from Thursday, will reduce the rates from 40-56 per cent as compared with the current market rates and will benefit Bharti's over 33 million subscribers.

A mobile user on roaming would now have to pay Rs 1.40 per minute for making a local call as against existing rates of Rs 2.89-3.09.

The charges for receiving incoming calls on roaming would come down to Rs 1.75 per minute and that for making STD calls to Rs 2.40 per minute.

The current charge for receiving incoming calls and making STD calls while roaming stand at Rs 3.54-3.99.

The monthly rental of Rs 49 has also been done away with, it said, adding the outgoing SMS while roaming would now cost Rs 2 from existing Rs 3.45.

"With these tariffs, all Airtel mobile users will benefit from our seamless network and have the opportunity to make calls while travelling anywhere in India," Bharti Airtel Joint President Mobile Services Sanjay Kapoor said.