Sky rocketing roaming and STD bills will soon be a thing of the past, at least for 62 million users of Bharti Airtel. The company has taken the market by surprise by slashing STD tariffs by up to 40%. So, no matter which plan you are currently on, STD tariffs per minute will now be just Rs 1.5. There's good news even for frequent travellers. The cut in roaming tariffs, which was long overdue, has finally happened. So, incoming roaming will be charged at a flat Re 1 per minute. The same tariff is applicable for local outgoing calls while roaming.

The management said it has got its arithmetic right and expects usage to rise sharply. According to Bharti, close to 70% of STD users in India do not use this facility for more than five minutes a month. Also, close to 80% users switch off their mobiles while roaming.

Sanjay Kapoor, President-Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel, said, "The company's EBITDA margins won't take a hit. We saw that when we reduced our local call tariffs."

This move has been triggered in part by the abolition of ADC levy and the successful launch of Virgin Mobile. Analysts have pointed out that certain tariff packages of Virgin were almost 25% cheaper than the rest of the competition. Bharti has clearly more than taken care of that apprehension.