By IANS
New Delhi : The government will take up with the telecom regulator the recent hike in SMS tariff by leading mobile phone operators, Communications and IT Minister A. Raja said here Wednesday.
“SMS is a mode of tariff and it is definitely under the ministry’s control. But let the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) first decide what needs to be done,” Raja told reporters while launching an export promotion forum.
All GSM operators had recently hiked SMS charges by a flat 20 percent to Rs.1.20 per message. Before that, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar had increased local and STD charges by around 20 percent and 10 percent respectively.
They said tariffs would come down only if their licence fee is reduced.
When asked about the government’s move, the telecom watchdog chief Nripendra Misra said his office had received no official request thus far. “Unless I get a formal letter from them, I would not be able to say anything,” he said.
“This is not a consumer-friendly measure. But we should also not forget that this falls under forbearance where an operator has every right to make changes in tariff structure.”