mobile operators may lose revenues with 5 sms a day limit in india .
In an attempt to curb misleading information being circulated about violence in Assam, the government of India has imposed a restriction on the number of SMS and MMS that can be sent in a day. Mobile users from August 18 are only allowed to send 5 SMS or MMS in a day for 15 days.
According to reports, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has revealed that this ban can have an effect of 7-8 percent on the revenue of telecom operators this month. The ban imposed effects the pre-paid subscriber base which constitutes a significant 90 percent of the entire mobile user base in India.
As per reports, Rajan S Mathews, Director General at COAI said that operators on an average receive 15-18 per cent revenue from data services of which SMS is a part. He added that all the members will definitely make every effort to abide by the rules, as national security and human lives are at stake.
However, this decision has left mobile users quite angry especially the youth segment. With SMS becoming a part of life such a severe restriction has caused major unrest amongst the youngsters. Many users have been resorting to free messengers such as BBM, WhatsApp and Nimbuzz after this ban.