New Delhi, Feb 7 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Monday sought the industry's view on whether there should be a cap on the tariffs of telecom services in the wake of many operators hiking their tariffs in the recent months.

Under the present regulatory framework, service providers have the flexibility to determine tariff for the services depending upon the market situation.

"After entry of new operators in the year 2008, the market witnessed competition in the form of reduced tariff, including introduction of innovative tariff plans such as per second billing, both from new entrants and old operators," TRAI said in a statement.

"This phenomenon continued for few years. However, despite existence of the new entrants, by the end of December 2011, it is seen that the subscriber base of new operators remains less than 7.5 percent and the top six incumbent operators enjoy the market share of more than 80 percent in terms of subscriber base," it added.

TRAI stated that this indicates absence of effective competition despite presence of multiple operators in each service area.

The stakeholders are expected to send their comments by Feb 24 and counter-comments by March 2.

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