TRAI rejects floor pricing proposal for data and voice calls by telecom operators


Today the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) rejected proposal of Telecom players to fix a floor price for both voice and data services and said it did not seem to be a ‘workable idea’. After proposal from telecom industry stakeholders last week for fixation of a minimum floor price for data and voice calls, TRAI had given them a meeting today, where Idea Cellular is said to have prepared a presentation to support it.

Reliance Jio was against the proposal calling it as a regressive and anti-competitive step. Yesterday, Reliance Jio proposed to make IUC zero, whereas Airtel and other operators were demanding for IUC to be raised. Airtel also said that it is losing Rs. 550 crore per quarter due to tsunami of calls originating from Reliance Jio’s network on its network.

TRAI Chairman R S Sharma said that they had a detailed discussion with the industry stakeholders for two hours and came have collectively decided that fixing a floor price was not a workable idea.

“Prices will continue under the principles of forbearance like now,” he said. He concluded saying that there will be no further discussion or consultation on the issue.

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Author: Srivatsan Sridhar

Srivatsan Sridhar is a Mobile Technology Enthusiast who is passionate about Mobile phones and Mobile apps. He uses the phones he reviews as his main phone. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram