Supply and demand normally dictates how any market works, barring regulatory and legal controls that prevent market forces from working. One would expect higher prices and profits to produce lower demand; lower prices to increase demand.
That does not seem to be the case in the India mobile services market, where operator prices are up and subscriptions also are higher. To be sure, Jio allowed millions of low-revenue accounts to be lost in September 2021. And subscribers dipped in 2020 overall.
One can argue that markets were distorted in many ways in 2020 and 2021. Massive lockdowns slowed economic activity. Supply chain disruptions arguably caused some supply inflation pressures. Mandated remote work policies increased demand.
Of course, there often are exceptions to every rule. Some point to luxury goods, for example, which often do not follow the expected supply-demand curves. Such Veblen goods can actually see increased demand as prices rise.
Of course, demand is not insensitive to indefinite price increases. At some point, even a Giffen good starts to behave as any other product as prices are raised.
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