Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, said on Wednesday about the Rising prices of data and devices are a concern for the rapid proliferation of digitization.
The comments have come against the backdrop of a recent hike of about 57 percent in the minimum monthly recharge plan by the country’s second-largest telco Bharti Airtel.
“Rise in cost of data or cost of devices is a matter of concern because they are impediments in rapid digitization. We have a target to bring 120 crore Indians online by 2025. We have 83 crore Indians online today. We certainly see issues in rising cost of data consumption or any rise in the cost of devices,” Chandrasekhar said on the sidelines of the India Stack Developer Conference.
The minister said that he is not exactly aware of Airtel’s hike in mobile service rates and that the ministry may approach telecom regulator Trai to examine if the hike will have a short-term or long-term impact.
He said that there has been an impact on prices across the world due to the Russia-Ukraine war and the impact of data price need to be examined.
Bharti Airtel has increased the price of its minimum recharge for the 28-day mobile phone service plan by about 57 percent to Rs. 155 in eight circles, including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh West.
The company has stopped its minimum recharge plan of Rs. 99, under which it offered 200 megabyte of data and calls at the rate of Rs 2.5 paise per second. In Haryana and Odisha, Airtel has now started offering the Rs 155 plan with unlimited calling, 1GB of data and 300 SMSes.