New Delhi: Stating that 11 per cent tariff rise is not unfair to the "business health" of the telecom sector, Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday said that two-phase tariff hikes have been implemented over the previous two fiscal years.
Defending the two-phase tariff hikes that telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel Ltd and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, have implemented over the previous two fiscal years, Scindia said, "Our voice tariff has reduced by 95 per cent, while data tariff has been reduced by 97 per cent over the past decade."
"Today, India is one of the most affordable connectivity markets in the world. However, in the past two fiscal years, telcos have cumulatively invested Rs 4.26 trillion in capital expenditure to expand 4G coverage and deploy 5G networks across the country. Naturally, it's not wrong for telcos to expect returns against their investments…in such a situation, an 11 per cent tariff rise is not unfair to the business health of the sector," he said.
In July, tariff hikes of 11-25 per cent across all consumers, facing plans by private telcos led to a shift in user bases directly in BSNL’s favour. Scindia was interacting with the reporters on the completion of the first 100 days of his ministry in the Modi 3.0 government.
He said over a fourth of all villages that lacked network connectivity were brought online in the first 100 days. Further, a total of 7,258 mobile towers have been installed to proliferate mobile network and internet connectivity across India, he added.
He said that his government’s vision is to enable 100 per cent mobile network connectivity across India. “A total of 36,721 villages were not connected in the first 100 days of governance. The Ministry of Communications has brought connectivity to 9,560 villages. We have also successfully built our own indigenous 4G technology stack, making India the sixth nation in the world to have its own telecom network technology stack,” the minister said.
Scindia said that a centre of excellence (CoE) on “Classical and Quantum Communications for 6G” has been established at IIT Madras.
Referring to the expansion of the 5G mobile network, Scindia said that 5G technology has reached almost all districts of the country.
“As of today, 98 per cent of districts in India have the presence of 5G technology thereby empowering citizens with a high-speed data network. 5G networks have been rolled out in all States and UTs across the country and more than 4.5 lakh 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) have been installed across the country,” Scindia said.
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