New Delhi, December 8, 2009 : Joining the the telecom tariff war, state-run BSNL today slashed its national roaming charges and offered two options -- 49 paise per minute or one paise per second.

The company said in a statement that it has brought down the national roaming rates "from Rs 1 or Rs 1.50 per minute to 49 paise per minute". It further added that under the per second planning, the roaming charges are 1 paisa per second to calls on its own network and 1.2 paisa per second to other networks.

Roaming charges are fees charged for calls made to mobiles which are not in the service provider's coverage area.

This is an attempt to join the price war scenario currently prevailing in the country, BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal said in the statement, adding, "Our primary aim is to bring the advantage of our network to our customers."

Operators resorting to per second billing has fuelled a tariff war in the industry. Telecom major Bharti Airtel had said that operators are resorting to "predatory pricing" and requested regulator TRAI to look into the issue.

Operators are apprehensive that rock bottom pricing will hit their margins and would be detrimental for the industry.