Opposition questions govt on permitting private mobile operators raising tariff 'unilaterally'

Congress asked why the government turned a “blind eye” when private mobile operators raised tariff by the same range of 15-16% despite their economic parametres being different while the CPI(M)-backed CITU wrote to Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia demanding its rollback as the tariff hikes will hurt common people and are “totally unwarranted”.

New Delhi: Objecting to three private mobile operators raising the tariff, the Opposition on Friday asked the Narendra Modi government how it permitted the service providers to “unilaterally” increase the charges and cough up an extra Rs 34,824 crore annually without any oversight and regulation.

Congress asked why the government turned a “blind eye” when private mobile operators raised tariff by the same range of 15-16 per cent despite their economic parametres being different while the CPI(M)-backed CITU wrote to Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia demanding its rollback as the tariff hikes will hurt common people and are “totally unwarranted”.

The CITU also accused the government of not providing a level playing field for BSNL by not allowing the public service provider to upgrade its services from 3G to 4G and 5G services. This, CITU General Secretary Tapan Sen said, has rendered BSNL handicapped and restrained it from competing with private players.

Addressing a press conference, Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala said Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea, with a subscriber base of 109 crore users, have hiked their tariff by an average 15 per cent and the additional yearly payment by common people will come up to Rs 34,824 crore.

He said the average revenue per customer per month for a mobile user as per an TRAI report in April is Rs 152.55. The three operators have increased their tariff in the last two days.

“Two things stand out. Firstly, the date of announcement of increase of tariffs, appears to be clearly in consultation with each other by the three companies. Secondly, the date of effective implementation of increased tariffs is the same,” he said.

Surjewala said the average tariff increase for Reliance Jio is 20 per cent or Rs 30.51 of Rs 152.55 and this would come to Rs 1,464 crore a month for 48 crore subscribers or Rs 17,568 crore a year rise.

For Airtel with a subscriber base of 39 crore whose average rise is 15 per cent, he said, the company will have an extra Rs 892 crore a month or Rs 10,704 crore annually while for Vodafone Idea with a subscriber base of 22.37 crore and average increase of 16 per cent, the rise will be Rs 546 crore a month or Rs 6,552 crore a year.

Accusing the government and TRAI of abdicating responsibility, Surjewala asked, “wasn’t the increase in mobile tariff withheld till the conclusion of the Parliament elections as Modi government would have been questioned on the justification for burdening 109 crore cellphone users and fleecing them of an extra Rs 34,824 crore?”

He also cited the Supreme Court directive that the union government and the TRAI have "not to behave like sleeping trustees" but have to function as "active trustees for the public good.” and asked, "has the public trust now been sacrificed by the Modi government?"

In his letter to Scindia, the CITU General Secretary cited the increase in tariff announced by Reliance Jio and Airtel. Sen said Reliance Jio has made a net profit of Rs 20,0606 crore and Airtel Rs 7,467 crore.

“Hence the statement of the companies that the tariff hike is intended at increasing their Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is only a misleading statement. Hence the tariff hikes which will hurt the common people are totally unwarranted and have to be rolled back,” he said.