Bharti Airtel on Friday, June 28, announced between 10 and 21 per cent hike in mobile tariffs, a day after larger rival Reliance Jio announced an increase in rates.
Airtel, in a release, said that the revision in mobile tariffs will be effective from July 3.
“We have ensured that there is a very modest price increase (less than 70 paise per day) on entry-level plans, in order to eliminate any burden on budget challenged consumers,” the Sunil Mittal-led telecom firm said announcing the revision in mobile tariffs.
Bharti Airtel said it has maintained that the mobile Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) needs to be upwards of Rs 300, to enable a financially healthy business model for telecoms in India.
“We believe that this level of ARPU will enable the substantial investments required in network technology and spectrum and offer a modest return on capital,” the telco said.
Among the unlimited voice plans, Airtel has raised tariffs in the ballpark range of about 11 per cent. Accordingly, rates are revised from Rs 179 to Rs 199; from Rs 455 to Rs 509; and from Rs 1,799 to Rs 1,999. In the daily data plan category, the Rs 479 plan has been increased to Rs 579 (20.8 per cent increase). The mobile tariff hike from mobile operators comes immediately after the 10th spectrum auction, which ended in just two days with muted response from the industry.
The country’s top telecom operator Jio will also increase mobile services rates by 12-27 per cent from July 3 and at the same time restrict the access of unlimited free 5G services for customers, according to a company statement.
This is the first hike in mobile services rates by Jio after a gap of about two-and-a-half years.
Jio has over 47 crore mobile subscribers accounting for about 41 per cent market share.
Airtel announces 10-21% hike in mobile tariffs from July 3
