Government’s big clarifications on tariff hike by Airtel, Jio and Vodafone

The government has refuted claims that it allowed Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone to announce unregulated tariff hikes.

Ever since it was reported that big telcos like Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone have increased their tariffs, there have been many discussions on social media regarding tariff hikes. The government has now made major clarifications regarding the tariff hike by these massive telecom giants.

The government refutes claims of allowing tariff hikes.

The government has refuted claims that it allowed Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone to unilaterally announce tariff hikes without any regulation. The three telecom players recently increased the price of their prepaid and postpaid plans, which came into effect on July 3, 2024.

What did the government say on tariff hikes?

In an official press release, the regulatory body emphasized its role in maintaining a fair telecom market. With three private sector players and one public sector player, the current mobile services market operates through the market forces of demand and supply. The press release further clarified that the telecom services’ rates are decided by market forces within the regulatory framework notified by the independent regulator, i.e., TRAI or Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

What did the press release state?

“The government does not intervene in the free market decisions as the functionality is under the domain of TRAI and tariffs are under forbearance. Any change in the tariff of mobile services is notified by TSPs to the TRAI, which monitors that such changes are within the prescribed regulatory framework. In the last two years, some of the TSPs (Telecom service providers) 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 the India’s international rank from 111 in October 2022 to 15 today,” the press release stated.

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