Dismissing the “misleading claims” on the recent mobile tariff hikes, the BJP-led NDA government has asserted that the mobile services market in India operated through forces of demand and supply, and has one of the lowest tariffs globally.
The Union Ministry of Communications issued a statement in this regard after the main opposition party Congress criticised the Narendra Modi government for hiking the mobile tariffs.
“With three private sector players and one public sector player, the current mobile services market operates through the market forces of demand and supply,” it said.
The Congress opposed and questioned the telcos unilaterally increasing rates without any oversight or regulation.
Rejecting the Congress’ claims, the ministry argued that over the past two decades, the rates of mobile services had been kept under forbearance by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and added that the policies of the government and regulatory framework notified by the regulator had resulted in “one of the lowest costs for subscribers of mobile services in India”.
The ministry also came up with a comparative chart of prevailing prices in the US, Australia, the UK, Russia, and other markets to press its point.
It said that the focus is to protect the interests of subscribers, enable orderly growth with investment in the latest technologies, and ensure financial viability.
Mobile services in India are being delivered by three private sector licensees and one public sector licensee.
“The rates of telecommunication services are decided by market forces, within the regulatory framework notified by the independent regulator, that is, TRAI. The government does not intervene in free market decisions as functionality is under the domain of TRAI and tariffs are under forbearance,” the statement further said.
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The service providers have increased the prices of mobile services after more than two years, it further said.
“In the last two years, some of the TSPs (telecom service providers) have invested heavily in rolling out 5G services across the country. This has resulted in a significant increase in median mobile speed to the level of 100 Mbps and a jump in India’s international rank from 111 in October 2022 to 15 today,” the official statement added.
