Data Tariff Hike By Airtel and Vodafone Idea to Reduce Total Mobile User Base

One of the biggest moves in the telecom industry last year, towards the end of the year has been the data tariff hike by the telecom companies. All the private telecom operators came together to increase the prices of their plans, in some cases by as much as 40% after being hit brutally by the AGR dues and poor financials. However, the data tariff hike was not liked by the telecom subscribers and was only a good move for the telecom companies. But, there is another unprecedented result of the data tariff hike in India, and that happens to be the loss in mobile subscribers. As per an ET Telecom report which cites Trai data, the total active mobile subscriber base in India might have shrunk by 4% in the previous calendar year, as compared to the year before. As per the data published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), at the end of October 2019, the total number of subscribers stood at 981 million, as compared to 1.02 billion at the same time in 2018. It is also expected that the data tariff hike is likely to have a ripple effect, and this trend will continue well into this year as well.

• Make Telecom Talk My Trusted Source
• 
• 

Customers Giving Up Dormant SIM Cards

As per the analysts, the fall in the active subscriber base of telecom customers is likely due to the giving up of the dormant SIM cards. The increase the pricing of the prepaid plans, higher minimum recharge plans and increased appetite for data has also increased the spending of the Indian population on both their SIM cards. This means that owning two SIM cards is costlier than ever. Hence, people are likely giving up on their dormant SIM cards. The analysts also claim that one of the first effects of this can be a 25%-30% fall in the growth of dual SIM users. The consumers might lean more towards single SIM cards.