Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Dr. Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, said that the communication cost in India is one of the lowest in world. The policies of the Government and regulatory framework notified by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has resulted into one of the lowest costs for subscribers of mobile services in India. The comparison of mobile services pricing, as published by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2024 consisting of (140 min + 70 SMS + 2GB) for basket of mobile, voice, SMS and data basket in some of the neighboring countries and other countries is given in Annexure- “A”.
As per the Provisions of TRAI Act 1997, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), an independent regulator for telecommunication services, regulates the rates of telecommunication services in the country. As per the existing regulatory tariff framework, tariff for telecommunication service is under forbearance except for services such as National Roaming, Rural Fixed Line Services, mobile number portability charges, leased circuits and USSD. Subject to compliance with extant regulatory provisions, service providers are free to design and offer tariffs based on their understanding of the market situation and in their best commercial interest. Service providers have the flexibility to decide various tariff components like the rates for different types of calls, SMS, data offers etc. with multiple combinations including recharge value and validity for different service areas of their operation. Tariffs are offered by service providers taking into account several factors including input costs, level of competition and other commercial considerations.
India and neighbouring countries
Economy
Measure Names
Measure Value
China
USD
8.56
Afganistan
USD
6.01
Bhutan
USD
4.56
Bangladesh
USD
2.40
Nepal(Republic of )
USD
2.72
India
USD
1.86
Pakistan
USD
1.43
Other Countries
USA
USD
48.95
Australia
USD
23.07
South Africa
USD
9.37
UK
USD
12.62
Russian Federation
USD
5.58
Brazil
USD
5.75
Indonesia
USD
3.13
Ezypt
USD
1.65
