Mobile tariff to rise if spectrum is charged: Mittal

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Indian mobile phone users will have to pay more if the service providers are charged for spectrum, which was earlier given free to the operators, chairman of the country's largest telecom company Bharti Airtel has said.

"We have been offering services with lower tariffs when we have not been charged for spectrum. Going ahead, if it (spectrum) will be charged, we will also have to charge the customer," Mittal told agencies.

Old operators have been contesting the proposed one-time charge for the extra spectrum held with them.

He was here for the annual global telecommunications event -- Mobile World Congress -- which concluded on Thursday.

Most of the mobile operators including Bharti Airtel, have already raised user charges by about 20 per cent in the wake of rising cost of operation and cut-throat competition.

Mittal said while the industry is for providing affordable service, its own interest must also be safeguarded.

"We will favour affordable service which should be viable for industry... Who will gain if our business is shut down?... This has to be balanced," he said.

The government proposes to delink allocation of airwaves from licences in the New Telecom Policy (NTP), which is expected to be unveiled next month.

The existing operators were given spectrum bundled with licences, which only were charged. The Bharti chief said India's telecom tariffs are still among the cheapest in the world -- even lower than Africa.

"(Tariffs in India) are still best in the world. Rates in Africa are 7 cents which is Rs 3.5 per minute," Mittal said.

In India, users pay as low as one paisa per second for local calls and 50 paise per minute for long distance calls within the country.

The Indian telecom industry is one of the fastest growing in the world and has a subscriber base of over 800 million mobile phone users. It is expected to touch the billion-mark within this year.

Mittal said mobile phones are a powerful tool for social transformation and that the telecom industry needs to maintain affordable tariffs.

However, the tariff structure has to be viable for the industry as well, he added.