India minister says operators raised call rates citing 3G cost

Several Indian mobile-telephony providers have raised phone-call charges recently, citing the high price they paid to acquire bandwidth to offer third-generation services, a junior telecommunications minister said Friday.

"Operators have the flexibility to fix the tariff for mobile-phone services depending on market conditions and other commercial considerations subject to the regulatory principles of non-discrimination, compliance of interconnect fees and non-predation," Milind Deora told lawmakers in the upper house of parliament.

Telecommunications and Internet companies together paid more than $22.7 billion to the government for bandwidth to offer 3G mobile services and wireless broadband, raising a substantial portion of the money via debt.

In the recent past, Bharti Airtel Ltd., Idea Cellular Ltd., the Indian unit of Vodafone Group PLC, Tata Teleservices Ltd., Reliance Communications Ltd., and Aircel Ltd. have raised call charges under certain plans.

The minister's comments come a day after the telecom regulator said it has sought clarifications from Bharti, Idea, Vodafone for their reasons to raise tariffs. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India said also it would seek clarification from Reliance Communications.

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