Atleast that what Sachin Pilot, the young Minister of State for Telecommunications and Information Technology thinks.
Here is a statement he has made:
“With the advent of mobile technology, it has made India leapfrog into a country with a 51 per cent teledensity and made call rates come down to the lowest in the world — they are between one or two cents a minute. The call rates are so cheap that a lot of telecom companies keep complaining how they are bleeding and how they are in the red. I think the day is not far away when call charges will be free and people will have to make money on data transfer.
It’s just an assumption, but that’s the way it’s headed. But it’s certainly the next phase of demands that the Indian telecom consumers are making and most certainly the way the telecom operators are looking at in the future.”
What is your take on this? Will Indian Telecom companies be able to survive without charging for voice calls. I seriously have doubts. Even though call rates are so low, it is a volume game and that is where Telecom companies still have majority of their earnings. Yes, over next few years, data transfer & other VAS will bring good amount of money into the kitty, but still telecom companies cannot offer free calls !
What is your take on this?