PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) India in its study produced for the Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI) claims that following the Telecom Regulatory authority (TRAI?s) recommendation on 2G license auction the mobile tariff for consumers are going to go up substantially.
COAI representing GSM-based operators and research firm PwC claim that the tariffs would go up by as much Re 0.09 per minute in metros, and between Re 0.29 and Re 0.34in the rest of the country, if the government were to accept TRAI?s proposal to raise 2G spectrum prices by as much as 13 times.
At present, voice tariffs range from Re 0.04 to 0.08 per minute in the 14-player telecom market in India. The PwC-COAI study has expressed doubts over TRAI?s calculations on the impact of spectrum prices on tariffs.
The study adds that following TRAI?s recommendation the debt burden of telecom companies will increase by 50 billion over the next five years.
The latest study?s observations are opposite to suggestions made by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) which maintains that following TRAI?s recommendations there would be only a marginal increase in tariffs.
According to DoT the resultant increase in tariffs can be easily absorbed by the operators by increasing usage of minutes and expanding their customer base.
