TRAI, DoT Should Raise Voice Against Unilateral Tariff Hikes by Pvt Telecom Firms: EAS Sarma

Newsclick Report

New Delhi: In an open letter to TRAI chairman A K Lakhoti, former top bureaucrat EAS Sarma has once again questioned the regulatory authority’s silence as well as of the department of telecommunications (DoT) over “unilateral” tariff hikes by private telecom companies.

The former government of India secretary said he had written a letter on July 10, 2024, too, drawing the attention of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and DoT to the steep hike in tariffs by two telecom majors, which had “allowed them to pocket tens of thousands of crores of rupees at the cost of millions of helpless customers.”

Sarma, in the letter dated October 22, 2024, also flagged grave concerns over the Union government’s change in the spectrum allocation policy to "favour" American tycoon Elon Musk.

“Only the other day, the concerned Minister, ignoring the directions of the apex court in the 2G spectrum case,  readily agreed to accede to Elon Musk’s demand for administrative allocation of satellite spectrum, suggesting that the present government’s policies are more amenable to diktats from domineering overseas service providers than to the sane directions of the apex court!”, said the letter. 

Referring to Airtel’s Sunil Bharti Mittal’s recent statement seeking a “further tariff hike to boost digital infrastructure”, Sarma said he was marking a copy of his letter to the Cabinet Secretary “to order an independent enquiry so that acts of malfeasance, if any, on the part of all those concerned (TRAI and DoT) may come to light, for the Parliament and the public to discuss and act urgently.”

Read the full letter:

Telecom companies have unilaterally hiked tariffs to raise additional profits of over Rs 1,00,000 Crores per year- Should not TRAI raise its voice?

To

Shri A K Lahoti

Chairman

TRAI

Dear Shri Lahoti,

I write this in continuation of my earlier letter of 10th July 2024, questioning the unilateral action on the part of private telecom operators to hike tariffs, with both TRAI and the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) behaving as though they had no concern whatsoever to safeguard the customers’ interests.

In my letter cited, I cautioned both TRAI and DOT that the last steep tariff hike by the two private telecom operators allowed them to pocket tens of thousands of crores of rupees at the cost of millions of helpless customers. 

There is evidently neither competition nor regulation in the telecom industry, allowing the two private operators to appropriate precious bands of 5G spectrum at unconscionably low prices and, adding insult to injury, blissfully hiking up tariffs whenever they wish, giving one the impression that both TRAI and DOT are openly in connivance with those operators. 

Only the other day, the concerned Minister, ignoring the directions of the apex court in the 2G spectrum case,  readily agreed to accede to Elon Musk’s demand for administrative allocation of satellite spectrum, suggesting that the present government’s policies are more amenable to diktats from domineering overseas service providers than to the sane directions of the apex court! (https://countercurrents.org/2024/10/elon-musk-and-satellite-spectrum-allocation-dot-should-earmark-satellite-spectrum-for-strategic-uses-respect-apex-courts-judgement-in-2g-spectrum-case/)

The latest in this series of happenings in the oligarchy-ridden telecom sector is an indication by one of the private telecom operators that he would merrily resort to yet another tariff hike “to-boost digital nfrastructure”, as if he is doing  a gratuitous favour to the nation (https://www.ndtvprofit.com/business/ndtv-world-summit-airtels-sunil-mittal-calls-for-further-tariff-hike-to-boost-digital-infrastructure). 

Evidently, the concerned private operator takes both DOT and TRAI for granted, knowing well that no one dares to ask him questions. 

It is bizarre that India’s telecom sector should become a happy playground for domestic and overseas operators with no one to regulate them, or to question them.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

What is happening today in the telecom spectrum, whether it is 5G spectrum allocation, or private operators merrily fleecing customers at their will, or overseas service providers dictating DOT’s policies, presents a sad spectacle of the Ministry’s and TRAI’s total surrender to domestic and overseas private oligarchs, a matter that certainly calls for an independent enquiry, as otherwise it is millions of helpless customers who will continue to pay for the unduly huge profits that those oligarchs pocket.

I am marking a copy of this letter to the Cabinet Secretary to order an independent enquiry so that acts of malfeasance, if any, on the part of all those concerned may come to light, for the Parliament and the public to discuss and act urgently.

Regards,

Yourssincerely,

 E A S Sarma

Former Secretary to the Government of India

Visakhapatnam

Courtesy: Countercurrents.org