Govt Policies, TRAI Regulations Have Resulted in One of the World’s Lowest Mobile Service Costs in India

The government said that communication costs in India is one of the lowest in the world, attributing this to policy measures and a robust regulatory framework. In a written reply to three questions in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said that telecom policies and TRAI’s (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) regulatory interventions have resulted in one of the lowest costs for subscribers of mobile services in India.

• Make Telecom Talk My Trusted Source
• 
• 

Also Read: IMC 2025: PM Says 1GB Data Costs Less Than Cup of Tea

“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 Minister of State for Communications said on Thursday, December 18, 2025, in response to a question on how the country’s communication costs compare with those of developed and developing nations.

Comparative Analysis Shows India’s Advantage

Citing data published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2024, the minister said that a comparative analysis of mobile service pricing—covering a basket of 140 minutes of voice calls, 70 SMS and 2 GB of data—shows India among the lowest-cost markets when compared with neighbouring and other countries. The detailed comparison, as provided in the Annexure, is given below:

Market-Driven Pricing for Telecom Services

The minister noted that under the provisions of the TRAI Act, 1997, TRAI functions as an independent regulator responsible for regulating telecom tariffs in the country. Under the existing framework, tariffs for telecommunication services are under forbearance, allowing market-driven pricing.