The tariff increase is in line with the regulatory framework: Department of Telecommunications

NEW DELHI: A day after the Congress party criticised the government over the tariff hike by telecom service providers (TSPs), the Ministry of Communications defended the hike, saying it was in accordance with existing rules.

In a press statement issued in response to the Congress party’s claims that consumers will incur an additional burden of Rs 34.824 billion due to tariff hike, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) clarified that telecom service providers (TSPs) have increased the prices of mobile services after more than two years.

“Over the last 2 years, several telecom service providers have invested heavily in rolling out 5G services across the country. This has resulted in a significant increase in average mobile speed to 100 Mbps and a jump in India’s international ranking from 111th in October 2022 to 15th now,” the DoT said. All three major private telecom service providers — Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Limited — have announced tariff hikes ranging from 10% to 25% last week.

The last such hike was in November 2021. This time, Reliance Jio led the way with a 12-25% tariff hike, followed by Airtel with increases ranging from 11% to 21% across prepaid and postpaid plans. Vodafone Idea (Vi) also hiked tariffs by 10-23%.

The DoT also stressed that the tariff hike has been implemented as per the provisions of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Act 1997, which empowers TRAI as an independent regulator to fix rates for telecom services in the country. It noted that for the last two decades, rates for mobile services have been fixed under abeyance by TRAI.

The government further explained that with three private sector entities and one public sector entity, the current mobile services market operates under the influence of supply and demand forces. It stressed that the focus remains on protecting subscriber interests, promoting orderly growth through investment in cutting-edge technology and ensuring financial stability. The government also stressed the importance of investing in advanced technologies.