The Telecom Department of the Ministry of Communications, Government of India, has responded to the recent claims concerning the latest price hike by the telecom service providers and said the rates of their services are decided by the market forces of demand and supply and the government does not intervene in these decisions. According to a PIB release, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regulates the rates of these services.

TRAI is the independent regulator of mobile services in India via the provisions of the TRAI Act 1997. The rates are one of the lowest compared to neighbouring regions and other countries, the statement said. The telecommunication services in India are offered by three private and one public sector player. For the unaware, Jio, Airtel and Vi (Vodafone Idea) recently announced their tariff hikes in India.

However, state-owned BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) has not announced any price hike on its existing recharge plans. "The Government does not intervene in the free market decisions as the functionality is under the domain of TRAI and tariffs are under forbearance," the statement said. A change in the pricing of mobile tariffs is notified to TRAI which ensures whether these are under the regulatory frame or not.

The significant price hike comes after two years and heavy investment in 5G and networking infrastructure. "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 statement said. The financial viability is crucial to allow further investments in 5G, 6G, IoT [Internet of Things], M2M [machine-to-machine] for Industry 4.0 and more, the Telecom department added.

The ministry also compared the position of the telecom sector 10 years ago. "Before last 10 years, the telecommunication sector was mired in controversies, lack of transparency and therefore, growth of mobile services was stagnant," it added. During the last decade, the ministry credited the state's "progressive policies" for the lowering of rates to a record level.