It is payback time
Vodafone, Idea and Bharti Airtel were enjoying life till Jio took breath. Jio came with offering free 4G internet and unlimited voice calls. It was such a step that for initial 2-3 months many users thought it was a scam. But then the graph of Jio's hold over showing constant acceleration. All the other telecom companies were recording losses and negative growth. What ensued was price drop by every other telecom company; ofcourse they had to survive.
Then came the time when Jio wasn't free anymore and people had to pay around 300Rs for 84 days. But this didn't see any drop in market growth as people were ready to pay this sum. Infact Jio's impact benefitted the Chinese mobile manufactureres the most. The likes of Xiaomi and the BBK Group (Vivo, Oppp, One Plus and Realme) with budget smartphones were selling their devices in the number of millions!
Irrespective of the global recession or dent in economy this was one of those very-very few sector which has since then enjoyed a healthy run.
But now is the payback time!
Except Jio, all other companies have humongous amounts of dues (AGR plus Losses) left to pay. And they've decided to absorb these amounts from none other than their customers. The prices were raised by all the telecom companies in December 2019 by 40%. How this raise affected the market is yet to be found out but it is speculated that not much harm was done.
But what is next on the way, it's effects will surely be visible.
Recently telecom operators have asked the Gov TRAI to set a standard known as floor price for companies. These floor prices will determine how much can be charged by our telecom operators for the services provided.
For example: Right now we pay 3-5 Rs per GB of Data and 0.6 Rs per minute calling to our service providers. But if the TRAI agrees to the proposals made by telecom companies then we may have to pay at least 7-8 times of our current recharging amount. Reportedly, the proposed rates were as Vodafone-Idea (35 Rs/GB), Airtel (30Rs/GB) and Jio (20Rs/GB). Jio, acting like a saint said that they don't intend to shock the 'price sensitive' customer and would like it if the floor price is raised gradually every three-six months from 15 to 20 Rs.
On the other hand, lying dead like Bheesma of Mahabharata, BSNL has proposed that floor prices shouldn't encompass the operators who serve not more than 15% of total customers.
Now it is certain that we are to witness a huge price surge in the coming months and these profit making companies will leave no stone unturned to lure and loot us. Yep, they'll do both together.
An advice: just recharge with an yearly pack in advance so that you will be unaffected from this price surge for at least a year.