COAI defends telecom service providers` call to increase mobile tariff
Amid continuous widening of gap between Telecom players’ expense on network deployment and revenue earned, the Telecom industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has defended service providers' call to increase mobile tariff. It noted that the government has supported a lot to telecom operators with policies like right of way (RoW) but still several authorities continue to charge exorbitant fees for laying network elements.
Describing the significance of the matter, COAI said that the gap between infrastructure development spending and revenue received by the companies from tariffs was around Rs 10,000 crore in 2024. Further, it warned that the gap has started increasing even further. It suggested that the cost of rolling out networks should be reduced by a reduction in the price of spectrum, levies etc.
Moreover, it has urged the government that the large traffic generators like YouTube, Netflix, Facebook etc should contribute to the development of networks as these large traffic generators contribute in 70 per cent of the traffic which flows on the telecom companies’ networks. It said that investment made by Indian telecom operators is for Indian consumers' benefit and not meant as a medium for profit of international players without bearing any cost.
