As Major Telcos Have Hike Mobile Tariff, Why Is Government Not Interfering?

Both government and telecom regulator have decided to stay away from interfering in the mobile tariff price hike for a couple of reasons, check what reports say.

New Delhi: With steep hike in mobile telecom tariffs that came into effect on July 3 and July 5 as major telecom operators raised the prices, the government and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)  have decided to not intervene into the matter, said a newspaper report.

As per a report in the Economic Times, the government and telecom regulators will stay away from influencing or interfering in the mobile tariff hike because India's telecom tariff is remain among the cheapest in the world and the situation is not 'critical' so as to warrant an interference.

A senior TRAI official has told ET that the ‘telecom operators are free to revise tariffs but they to provide good quality of services.’

An Official, told the ET "There is enough competition in the telecom sector and the situation is not critical that requires intervention of the authorities. Consumers may feel some pinch of the price rise, but the hike has happened after three years," one of the officials told ET, asking not to be named.

Reliance Jio Mobile Tariff Hike

Reliance Jio has announced price hike mobile tariffs between 12-27 percent, and also restricted the access of unlimited free 5G services for customers. The new tariffs is effective from 3rd July 2024. This is the first tariff hike in two and half years by the company.

The price of the lowest recharge plan is by about 27 percent or Rs 19 while that of the annual recharge plans will be increased by 20-21 percent or Rs 340. The tariff hike across the medium-range mobile service plans will be 19-21 percent.

Bharti Airtel Mobile Tariff Hike

A day after Reliance Jio announced price hike mobile tariffs, telecom operator Bharti Airtel too followed suit. Airtel's latest mobile tariff is effective from 3rd July 2024.

"Bharti Airtel (‘Airtel’) has maintained that the mobile Average Revenue per User (ARPU) needs to be upwards of INR 300, to enable a financially healthy business model for Telcos in India. We believe that this level of ARPU will enable the substantial investments required in network technology and spectrum and offer a modest return on capital," said a company statement.

Airtel added that it welcomes the announcements in the industry to repair tariffs and will also revise its mobile tariffs from July 3rd. These prices apply to all circles, including Bharti Hexacom Ltd. Circles.

Vodafone Idea Mobile Tariff Hike

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has announced the launch of new plans for its prepaid and post-paid consumers which came into effect from July 04, 2024. Vi said that it is the only operator offering a range of unmatched benefits to its pre-paid customer by Offering Night Free Data and Weekend Data Roll Over with its ‘Hero Unlimited’ plans and a unique ‘Choose Your Benefit’ option to its Post-Paid customers under its Vi Max Plans.