Trai rejects floor price proposal, says tariff forbearance to stay

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Friday rejected a proposal from incumbents including Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel who sought the establishment of a floor price for voice and data services.

“We had a detailed discussion on this. Fixing a floor price was not a workable idea. Prices as they are under forbearance should continue as they are,” Trai Chairman RS Sharma told reporters after the meeting.

He added that there wouldn’t be any further discussions on this.

Top telcos wanted a floor price to put an end to the free services which were being offered by new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm who had triggered an intense price war which had hurt the revenue and profitability of the established carriers. Jio has opposed the need for the floor price.