2024-07-10 02:45:14
New Delhi: Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea have increased mobile tariffs drastically. This has increased the problems of common people struggling with inflation. Analysts say that this will increase the expenditure on telecom services in urban areas to 2.8% of total domestic expenditure in FY 2025. For rural families, it will increase from 4.5% to 4.7%. But the government and telecom regulator TRAI have said that telecom companies are free to fix tariffs and they have no intention to interfere in this matter. Officials say that mobile tariffs in India are still cheaper than most countries in the world. After the recent increase, the minimum service charge of Reliance Jio has increased from Rs 139 to Rs 189. This includes 28 days validity and two GB data. Similarly, the minimum service charge of Airtel and Vodafone Idea has also increased from Rs 179 to Rs 199. But according to government data, you have to spend $1.89 or about Rs 157 for unlimited voice and 18 GB data for a month in the country. This rate is of the government company BSNL. Earlier BSNL used to work as a price regulator. This prevented private companies from increasing tariffs. But the company is not in a position to compete with private companies in terms of 4G and 5G services.
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Service is cheap in Pakistan
The government has given detailed information about mobile tariffs in many countries and compared them with India. According to these figures, users have to spend 8.84 dollars for minimum service in China. This amount is 4.77 dollars in Afghanistan, 4.62 dollars in Bhutan, 3.24 dollars in Bangladesh and 2.75 dollars in Nepal. This means that mobile tariff in these countries is more expensive than in India. On the other hand, in Pakistan, which is facing economic crisis, mobile users have to spend a minimum of 1.39 dollars to maintain their service. This means that mobile tariff in Pakistan is cheaper than in India.
The minimum mobile recharge plan in the US is $49, which is around Rs 4000. Similarly, users have to spend $20.1 for this in Australia, $15.8 in South Africa, $12.5 in the UK, $6.55 in Russia, $6.06 in Brazil, $3.29 in Indonesia, $2.55 in Egypt. Telecom companies in India have increased tariffs to increase the average revenue per user (ARPU). They have paid a lot of money to buy expensive 5G spectrum, but very little monetization has happened so far. This is the first major increase in mobile tariffs since November 2021.