Pricing power

Telcos should not give up freedom to set tariffs

All three private telecom operators, who are rarely on the same page on any issue, have together asked the sector regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), to set floor prices for mobile data services, while retaining voice calls under the ongoing forbearance regime. In practice since 2003, forbearance implies that telcos are free to fix all tariffs other than for national roaming and fixed rural telephony. Shifting to a floor price regime would mean no company will be allowed to offer tariffs below the mark set by the regulator. In a letter to Trai, telcos said tariff correction