The Hindu Business Line : Govt allows mobile roaming to Pakistan

According to the Union Communications Minister, Mr Arun Shourie, this permission has been granted for an initial period of four months and will be reviewed on June 15 to decide on continuing the facility.

"We have allowed roaming on mobile phones for four months only on experimental basis and the experience will be reviewed on June 15. This is part of the process Prime Minister Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee initiated for restoring normalcy between the two nations. The roaming facility would be on a reciprocal basis. However, it will not be allowed for subscribers in Jammu & Kashmir, as also the North-East because of security apprehensions," he told presspersons.

Attaching paramount importance to the security concerns, he said that the review would be on the ground of the general situation and the feedback from the security agencies.

Mr Shourie noted that the cellular operators Bharti and Hutch have indicated that they would be in a position to start the facility in a day, BSNL would do so in a couple of days after tying up the roaming agreement with Mobilink, the largest cellular service provider in Pakistan.

He thanked the Prime Minister, the security agencies, the Home Ministry and the External Affairs Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, who cleared the proposal only last evening.

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