Voice, data tariffs need to be rationalised in 2013: Deloitte

Voice and data tariffs will need to be rationalised in 2013 to sustain the telecom industry, and with operating costs rising exponentially for telecom operators, companies will hike tariffs gradually.

This would be either in the form of removing discounts or increasing tariffs nominally, according to Deloitte Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) Predictions 2013.

Although consumers are signing up for mobile broadband in record numbers, data traffic is not translating into equivalent increase in average revenue per MB. Deloitte predicts that in 2013 network operators in India – both wireless and wireline – are likely to stay away from unlimited data pricing plans.

''In 2013 operators will be leveraging on innovative pricing strategies to position themselves effectively against their competition,'' Deloitte spokesperson said.

Mobility will be the most dynamic technology platform that would influence a multiplicity of segments of which the most notable ones would be education and payments. Payment methods would see changes with wider adoption of alternate currency under various use-cases.

In education, the emergence of open standards and the mobile web interplay would bring together collaborative and experiential models of learning, promote greater teacher-student-parent interaction, and provide more insightful and relevant skill-assessment platforms, it added.