(a) whether it is a fact that the Government has brought down data cost from Rs. 269 per GB to just Rs.19 per GB;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether it is also true that call tariff has shrunk to barely 17 paisa from 51 paisa; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)
(a) to (d) As per the present tariff framework in the country, the tariff for mobile services is under forbearance except for national roaming, leased lines, mobile number porting charges, for which ceiling tariffs have been specified. Mobile operators have the flexibility to offer different tariff plans/schemes depending on the market conditions and other commercial considerations. Tariff for mobile services is offered as a bouquet consisting of various components like voice calls, data service, SMS, processing fee, free minutes, monthly charges, roaming tariff etc. The revisions carried out by mobile operators from time-to-time may be in one or more of the above tariff items and the same may be different for different operators and for different service areas.
Tariff plans are of bundled nature and the trade-off is generally between monthly fixed charges and variable (call) charges. The average data tariff is a realistic indicator for trend of data tariffs, which is calculated on the basis of data revenue collected from subscribers and the volume of data usage, as reported by the telecom service providers to TRAI. Similarly, the average subscriber outgo per outgoing minute for call from home service area (HSA) (i.e. Rental revenue plus Airtime revenue per outgoing minute), therefore, is a realistic indicator of tariff levels.
The trend of average wireless data tariff and trend of average subscriber outgo per outgoing minute for wireless voice calls for the quarter ending December, 2014 to the quarter ending September, 2018 are as below:
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Sl.No. Quarter Ending Average subscriber outgo per outgoing minute for call from Home Service Area (HSA) for Wireless Services (in Rs.) Average tariff (outgo) for wireless data per GB (in Rs.)
1 Dec-14 0.51 254.95
2 Sep-18 0.12 10.91
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