In a bid to make mobile phones more affordable, the Ministry of Communications and IT is preparing a roadmap to lower the local tariff rates to 25 paise from the current Re 1.

This initiative is a step ahead of the ‘One India’ plan announced by the former telecom minister, Dayanidhi Maran.

According to sources in the ministry, “With the entry of new players in the market, it will force the telecom operators to offer better services along with competitive rates. It is likely that the entry of new players will bring down the mobile tariff rates lower than 50 per cent from the current rates.”

Industry sources said the government was likely to award telecom licenses to nine companies, which have received the letter of intent (LoIs).

It was learnt that the licenses were likely to be awarded within the next couple of days. Telecom experts opined that the government’s move to allow new players in the market would make a difference in the services and tariffs.

Earlier this month, nine companies were issued LoIs for offering telecom services in the country, including Unitech, Datacom, S Tel, Shyam Telelink, Tata, Idea Cellular and Spice Telecom.

CDMA major Reliance Communications was already awarded start-up spectrum for launching GSM services in the country.

Source: CIOL