Lok Sabha Question No. 632 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Data Costs and Call Tariffs
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: PONNUSAMY VENUGOPAL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.632 TO BE ANSWERED ON 6 TH  FEBRUARY, 2019

## DATA COSTS AND CALL TARIFFS

632. DR. P. VENUGOPAL:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is a fact that  the Government has brought down data cost from Rs. 269 per GB to just Rs.19 per GB;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether it is also true that call tariff has shrunk to barely 17 paisa from 51 paisa; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

- (a) to (d) As  per  the  present  tariff  framework  in  the  country,  the  tariff  for mobile services is under forbearance except for national roaming, leased lines, mobile number porting charges, for which ceiling tariffs have been specified. Mobile operators have  the  flexibility  to  offer  different  tariff  plans/schemes  depending  on  the  market conditions and other commercial considerations. Tariff for mobile services is offered as a  bouquet  consisting  of  various  components  like  voice  calls,  data  service,  SMS, processing fee, free minutes, monthly charges, roaming tariff etc. The revisions carried out  by  mobile  operators  from  time-to-time  may  be  in  one  or  more  of  the  above  tariff items  and  the  same  may  be  different  for  different  operators  and  for  different  service areas.

Tariff plans are of bundled nature and the trade-off is generally between monthly fixed charges and variable (call) charges. The average data tariff is a realistic indicator for trend of data tariffs, which is calculated on the basis of data revenue collected from subscribers and the volume of data usage, as reported by the telecom service providers to TRAI. Similarly, the average subscriber outgo per outgoing minute for call from home service  area  (HSA)  (i.e.  Rental  revenue  plus  Airtime  revenue  per  outgoing  minute), therefore, is a realistic indicator of tariff levels.

The trend of average wireless data tariff and trend of average subscriber outgo per outgoing minute for wireless voice calls for the quarter ending December, 2014 to the quarter ending September, 2018 are as below:

|   Sl.No . | Quarter Ending   |   Average subscriber outgo per outgoing minute for call from Home Service Area (HSA) for Wireless Services (in Rs.) Average tariff (outgo) for wireless data per GB (in Rs.) |   Average subscriber outgo per outgoing minute for call from Home Service Area (HSA) for Wireless Services (in Rs.) Average tariff (outgo) for wireless data per GB (in Rs.) |
|-----------|------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|         1 | Dec-14           |                                                                                                                                                                         0.51 |                                                                                                                                                                       254.95 |
|         2 | Sep-18           |                                                                                                                                                                         0.12 |                                                                                                                                                                        10.91 |

************