Make 3G and 4G services more affordable for rural India, says Government at LTE India 2016

The Government calls to make 3G and 4G services more affordable for its faster penetration into the rural areas, Shri N.K. Yadav, Member Services, Department of Telecommunications, Government of India said at LTE India 2016 conference in New Delhi.

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“Although the rural 2G services have crossed the mark of 50%, the real tele-density is still around 25%, but the data services were just about 10%. To increase the data usage, there is a need to make the services more affordable,” he said. Shri Yadav is also Chief Managing Director of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL).

In response, Mr. Rajan Mathews, Director-General of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said that the high spectrum costs and right of way charges along with other levies make the investment in telecom sector expensive. Hence, he said, the possibility of selling 3G and 4G services for low cost may not be feasible. “Over and above high spectrum charges, Government is also imposing a service tax even as local charges for right of way are almost doubling every now and then”, said Mr. Rajan Mathews.

Meanwhile, Shri Yadav assured that the Government of India was providing as much spectrum as possible to the industry. “Spectrum provision is opening up and through sharing, trading and harmonizing spectrum more intensive usage will happen in a big way,” he said.

The panelists at the discussion pointed out that although the data services are spreading, and there was huge supply of 4G services, ‘the pull from the customers was not strong enough’. With programs like Digital India, Smart City and e-services, the much needed consumer pull is expected to improve, panelists added.