Private telecom companies Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have announced recent tariff hikes. The fare hike came into effect on July 3, and since then, the number of people flocking to state-owned BSNL has increased.
Telecom sector is very important in our country. It is these telecom companies that bring the internet to people from all walks of life.
While earlier there were many companies in the telecom sector, many companies have closed down in recent years. Now, there are only Jio, Airtel, VI companies. Similarly there is a government company BSNL.
Telecom Companies: The telecom sector is dominated by Jio and Airtel. Meanwhile Jio has recently announced a hike in its tariffs. Jio charges hiked by 12% to 25% Following Jio, companies including Airtel and Vodafone have also announced hikes in their tariffs. The fare hike is effective from July 3.
When this fare hike came into force, many people opposed it. They also filed complaints with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). However, telecom tariffs have not been hiked in the last 3 years and even after the hike, India is reported to have the lowest tariff in the world.
Consumers: However, the public is not happy with this rate hike. Meanwhile, with the price hike coming into effect, many people are switching to BSNL. BSNL has acquired around 27.5 lakh new customers in the last two weeks alone. This number is expected to rise further in the coming days.
BSNL: There is a porting option to transfer from one company to another without changing the mobile number. Many people are switching to BSNL from other telecom companies using this option.
While the tariff hike came into force on July 3, around 2.50 lakh people have switched to BSNL from other companies since the tariff hike came into effect on three private companies – Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea.
Action Needed to Retain: BSNL’s plans are few as compared to private companies. BSNL has the most affordable plans in particular. Due to this the number of customers switching to BSNL is increasing.
At the same time BSNL needs to improve its network quality to retain these customers. Also, many have demanded that 4G coverage be improved.
