With an aim to counter Reliance Jio's free phone call offer, leading telecom operator Vodafone India today announced free incoming calls on national roaming for all its customers beginning Diwali on October 30.

"As part of our ongoing 200 million customer celebration, providing free incoming on national roaming will ensure that our customers do not think twice while traveling out of town," Vodafone India, Director Commercial, Sandeep Kataria said in a statement.

Starting October 30, all Vodafone India customers travelling anywhere in the country will get free incoming calls, the statement said.

"Even though outgoing charges while roaming had become comparable to home charges, consumer research has shown that incoming charges while roaming have been a hindrance to worry free usage," Kataria said.

The new entrant Reliance Jio is offering free voice telephony across the country, including outgoing calls as well which is a big challenge for the entrenched players who derive a bulk of their revenue from the voice business. State-run BSNL has been offering free incoming call during roaming since June 15, 2015.

At present, most of the telecom operators charge a tariff for providing free incoming calls during roaming.