While customers have been complaining of the rising call rates, we can expect them to be hiked even further to cover losses.
According to Rahul Khullar, Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), mobile call rates are set to rise by a whopping 8 – 9 percent margin over the year. He however said there may not be a substantial increase in the headline tariffs as that may not work well in the country but instead operators may cut down on the freebies being offered.
According to Khullar, while the current headline tariffs are at Rs. 1.2 per minute, the net revenue earned is just 45 paise. However to make the situation easier for the telecom operators he requested the government to hasten the opening up the spectrum for high-speed access and offer consolidation to the service providers.
Speaking about the telecom industry, Rahul Khullar, said, “What you should be ready to see is some marginal rise in the effective call rates. You won’t really feel the pinch of the tariff hike because what operators are really doing is clawing back the freebies.”
