Mobile subscribers are likely to face another round of tariff hike. Leading mobile operator Bharti Airtel has indicated that it could soon “significantly” increase call charges to meet rising operating costs.
“The pressure on this [telecom] industry will be acute as the operators will have to serve the rural markets and low-end customers, who use only voice calls and SMS…tariffs will have to go up significantly in the near future,” Bharti group CEO and managing director Sunil Mittal told journalists.
This correction in tariffs was required to compensate for the company's rural operations, as the cost of operations had gone up exponentially, he said.
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Last month, Vodafone, Tata Docomo and Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel increased their tariffs by as much as 20 per cent.
Airtel raised the tariffs for its ‘Advantage' and ‘Freedom' pre-paid tariff packages, which are based on per minute billing, to 60 paise a minute for local and STD mobile-to-mobile calls.
Earlier, the rate was 50 paise in this category.
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The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) immediately sought replies from these operators and got them too.
Interestingly, India is still world's cheapest telecom market with per second call charges.