Telecom operators urge TRAI to impose floor price on voice & data

At a time when the telecom industry has witnessed a lot of free offers, several telecom service providers on Thursday suggested to the regulator the idea of imposing a floor price for voice and data.

"The operators today have discussed the idea of creating a floor price for voice and data services. The rationale behind it was that no operator can offer data and voice services below that price," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman R.S. Sharma said here while briefing media persons after a two-and-half-hour meeting with representatives of seven telecom companies, who discussed the worsening health of the sector with the regulator.

The operators present in the meeting were: Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Reliance Jio, Aircel, Tata Teleservices, MTS, BSNL and MTNL. Jio had changed the rules of the game in the mobile market by offering free voice and data services.

Sharma said the operators also sought a cut in licence fees, which are now pegged at 8 per cent. They also asked for lowering of Goods and Services Tax rate of 18% on the industry and suggested doing away of the Universal Service Obligation Fund levied on them.

"Some representatives suggested deferring payment of spectrum charges, but some operators also opposed that. Jio said deferred spectrum charge should be done away with. Their rationale was that because of the comfort which people had of the liability not occurring at present, they do a lot of aggressive bidding," he added.

"We have heard the operators, we have heard their views and we stand committed in whatever way to see a healthy industry. We want to see a competitive industry. We want to see an industry which offers quality of service to the customers and we want them to offer affordable services in a sustainable manner," Sharma said.