Since quite a few months now, there were speculations about a hike to be announced in mobile telephony charges in India. And now it seems the hike could be announced shortly.

As per reports, recently during an interactive session conducted at Bangalore by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) members, Mr. Rahul Khullar, Chairman of TRAI (the watchdog of Indian Telecom Industry) ruled out that, with steep increase in the prices of all essential commodities, mobile telephony prices cannot be an exception.

Here are the excerpts of his statement as reported by Deccan Herald:

Since prices of all essential commodities had seen a sharp rise over the years, a hike in mobile phone tariffs was no exception. Consumers have enjoyed low tariffs for a long time. Now that the industry is going through hardships, it is justified in increasing tariffs to reduce losses. Telecom service providers cannot continue to work with red ink on their books.

Reason for the price rise

Though Mr. Khullar points out that rising prices of basic commodities and cut-throat competition are the two major reasons resulting to such price rise, we believe Mr. A Raja’s (AKA ‘Telecom Raja’ in the recent days) alleged disgraceful act in the past could be a reason for such hike.

What’s your take? Comments on this issue are solicited.

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