In anticipation of the tariff hike, Reliance Industries’ market cap crossed the Rs 9.5-trillion mark on Tuesday
Reliance Jio, which disrupted the telecom market ever since its commercial launch in 2016, has decided to follow rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea in raising mobile phone tariffs. Having kicked off a no holds barred tariff war three years ago, the Mukesh Ambani-owned firm is now stepping back.
According to sources in the know, the tariff hike decision by the telcos is in response to the government wanting the industry to stop the long-drawn price war and set their house in order. In the absence of a tariff hike, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) may have been forced to impose a floor price for the operators. Also, the government has been of the view that any relief measure for the telecom industry should be given only after telcos get out of the price war, that has left the incumbent operators with record losses and high debt, the sources said.
On Tuesday evening, reliance Jio announced it would take measures including “appropriate increase in tariffs’’ in the next few weeks. The move, industry watchers believe, may bring down the pitch of the bitter battle between the incumbents and a new player. Jio’s announcement comes a day after Airtel and Vodafone Idea said they were hiking tariffs from December 1.
In its statement, Jio has asked the government to mandate a ‘2G mukt’ India in the shortest time if the objectives of Digital India mission has have to be achieved. The Jio demand for a 2G-free country is significant as it’s the only operator offering just 4G services pan-India. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea still have a bulk of their customers using 2G….
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