The consultation paper on introduction of 5G is almost ready and will be out soon. Another consultation paper on spectrum auction is also in the pipeline, Sharma said.
Mobile tariffs will continue to be under forbearance, ie, governed by market forces, and no floor price will be fixed for voice and data services, telecom regulator TRAI said on Friday.
Under forbearance regime, operators are allowed to fix their own tariffs on grounds that there is enough competition in the market. This forbearance is going on since 2003. Operators have to inform TRAI about their tariff plans within seven days of launch.
If a minimum floor price had been set, it could have meant an end to freebies in the market.
"We had detailed discussions and the consensus at the end of the meeting was that for the time being we don't need to pursue the idea of fixing a floor price. Prices will continue under the principles of forbearance. That is the conclusion," TRAI Chairman RS Sharma said.
"It (fixing floor price) is not a workable idea... Forbearance has stood the test of time," Sharma said after two-hour long meeting with all the telecom operators.
The consultation paper on introduction of 5G is almost ready and will be out soon. Another consultation paper on spectrum auction is also in the pipeline, Sharma said.
Last month, some telecom services provider including Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular in a meeting with TRAI had sought an imposition of a floor price for both voice and data services. Their contention was that telecom operators offering below cost tariffs to mobile users over a period of time may harm the industry in the long term.
"We had promised a discussion. But after the consensus, there will be no meeting on this issue," Sharma said.
At one occasion in 2012, there was a time when TRAI had thought of capping mobile tariffs since it was pretty high then.
The issue has come to a limelight because of free voice and dirt cheap data prices being offered by a new player Reliance Jio since the launch in September last year.
Existing operators have been forced to match the tariffs being unleased by Reliance Jio and it has impacted their margins and overall profitability since last two quarters.
Reliance Jio has termed the proposal of fixing floor price as a regressive and anti-competitive step.
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