Govt wants telecom service to stay most affordable globally: Vaishnaw
At present ARPU in India is in the range of Rs 140-200 compared to global average of Rs 600-850 and about Rs 580 in China.
NEW DELHI: The government wants India’s telecom service to remain the most affordable in the entire world, union telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
According to the telecom sector industry body Cellular Operators Association of India, telecom operators have not been able to monetise 5G service since its launch last year. “From the government side we are very clear. We would like telecom service to continue to remain the most affordable in the entire world and today among all large economies India’s telecom sector is the most affordable telecom sector,” Vaishnaw said at the India Mobile Congress 2023, held recently.
According to analysts, telecom operators need an average revenue per user (ARPU) in the range of Rs 270-300 over next three years to realise the investments they are making in building 5G networks.
At present ARPU in India is in the range of Rs 140-200 compared to global average of Rs 600-850 and about Rs 580 in China.
Telecom operators have been demanding that 4-5 apps that generate large traffic on their network should pay revenue share based on the business they generate from India to compensate for the network cost. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio are the only two out of four mobile service providers that have rolled out 5G services and their combined investment in 5G network is estimated to be around Rs 3 lakh crore including the cost of spectrum
