A day ahead of a crucial Telecom Commission meeting on the auction of 2G spectrum, service operators on Wednesday warned the government and customers, saying the the high reserve price for spectrum, recommended by the telecom regulator, will lead to steep tariff hikes.

The Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (Auspi), the CDMA operators’ body, said mobile services could become dearer by 28 paisa per minute if the recommendations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) are accepted in their current form.