Vi makes international roaming free on select plans

Buying a roaming pack before every foreign trip is a small, annoying tax on Indian travellers. Vodafone Idea (Vi) now wants to fold it into the monthly bill. The operator said on Friday it is offering free international roaming with select postpaid, prepaid and enterprise plans, covering more than 170 countries.

Depending on the plan, customers can use the free roaming benefit for up to three trips a year. The allowance differs by plan and covers some mix of international data, outgoing call minutes, calling and SMS, and a fixed travel validity. Vi claims eligible users could save up to Rs 9,000 a year compared with buying roaming separately.

Which plans qualify

On postpaid, the benefit comes with Vi Max plans priced at Rs 501, Rs 601, Rs 801/851, Rs 971, Rs 1,251, Rs 1,301/1,401 and Rs 1,651/1,775. The list includes both individual and family plans, and Vi notes that postpaid rentals can vary by circle. On family plans, the primary member and free secondary members each get their own included roaming benefits.

Prepaid users get it only with annual unlimited data plans. Enterprise customers can access the offer on corporate plans starting at Rs 451.

Customers are expected to check the list of covered countries and roaming partners and then activate the relevant Roam-Free plan through the Vi app or website before they travel. Once the free validity runs out, they can continue on Vi's Always On feature or buy a regular international roaming pack.

Vi has not published the exact data and minute allowance for each plan in its announcement, so travellers should check the plan page before assuming a whole trip is covered. Three trips a year will be enough for most holidaymakers, but frequent business travellers may still end up paying for top-ups.

The marketing push behind it

The offer is the first big move under Vi's new "Vi Pe Sab Hain VIP" campaign, and it arrives with a Shah Rukh Khan advertisement in which the actor assumes free roaming was created just for him.

Avneesh Khosla, Chief Marketing Officer at Vi, said international roaming has traditionally meant buying a pack, a local SIM or a travel eSIM, and is widely seen as expensive. "We are taking a disruptive approach by making international roaming a built-in benefit on our key Vi plans," he said, calling it a shift from buying roaming when you travel to "your Vi number travels with you for free."

Why it matters in a tight market

Vi is the smallest of India's three private operators and has been trying to hold on to high-value postpaid users, who bring in the most revenue per customer. Frequent travellers sit squarely in that group, and as Khosla himself noted, they have alternatives in local SIMs and travel eSIMs.

Bundling roaming into the plan is a way to keep those users from drifting to eSIM apps or to rival operators' premium plans. Rivals Jio and Airtel sell international roaming packs of their own, so Vi is betting that a built-in benefit on plans starting at Rs 501 will stand out.

The catch is the fine print on allowances. If the included data turns out to be thin, users may still need a local SIM for longer stays. For short trips to the Gulf, Southeast Asia or Europe, though, many Vi postpaid users may now land abroad without buying anything extra.