Centre clears air on mobile tariff hike, says ‘no govt intervention’

Reiterates that the rates of telecommunication services are decided by market forces within the regulatory framework notified by independent regulator

New Delhi: The government has responded to misleading claims regarding recent mobile services tariff hike, saying with three private and one public sector player, the current mobile services market operates through the market forces of demand and supply.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said the rates of telecommunication services are decided by market forces, within the regulatory framework notified by the independent regulator.

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“The government does not intervene in the free market decisions as the functionality is under the domain of TRAI and tariffs are under forbearance,” said the regulator.

The TRAI said the telecom service providers (TSPs) have increased the prices of mobile services after more than two years. “In the last two years, some of the TSPs have invested heavily in rolling out the 5G services across the country. This has resulted into a significant increase in median mobile speed to the level of 100 Mbps and jump in India’s international rank from 111, in October 2022, to 15 today,” the TRAI explained.

While protecting the interests of subscribers, for the orderly growth of the telecommunication sector, which includes investments in latest technologies such as 5G, 6G, IoT/ M2M for Industry 4.0 etc., “the financial viability of the sector is important,” said the TRAI.

Before last 10 years, the telecommunication sector was mired in controversies, lack of transparency and therefore, growth of mobile services was stagnant. “During the last 10 years, due to progressive policies of the government, the rates of telecommunication services be it voice or data, have fallen exponentially,” said the telecom regulatory body.