Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday announced 20-25 per cent tariff hikes for various prepaid offerings, including voice plans, unlimited voice bundles and data top-ups.
The entry-level tariffed voice plan has been hiked by about 25 per cent, while for unlimited voice bundles, the increase in most cases is about 20 per cent.
New voice bundle charges | Airtel
The company said it has always maintained that the mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) needs to be at Rs 200 and ultimately at Rs 300, so as to provide a reasonable return on capital that allows for a financially healthy business model.
“We also believe that this level of ARPU will enable the substantial investments required in networks and spectrum. Even more important, this will give Airtel the elbow room to roll out 5G in India,” Airtel said in a statement.
As the first step towards this, the company said it is taking the lead in “rebalancing” tariffs during the month of November. The new tariffs will come into effect from November 26, 2021.
Voice plans
In tariffed voice plans, the new rate is Rs 99, against the current Rs 79 with 28 days validity and benefits like “50 per cent more talktime worth Rs 99, 200 MB data, 1p/sec voice tariff”.
Unlimited voice bundles
For unlimited voice bundles, the rate for the plan for Rs 149, valid for 28 days, has been hiked to Rs 179. This plan offers unlimited calls for the duration, 100 SMSes a day and 2GB of data.
The rate for the voice bundle plan for Rs 249, valid for 28 days, has been hiked to Rs 299. This plan offers unlimited calls, 100 SMSes daily and 1.5GB data per day.
The rate for the voice bundle plan of Rs 449 has been hiked by Rs 100. This plan is valid for 56 days and offers unlimited calls, 100 SMSes daily and 2GB data daily.
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The rate for the highest prepaid voice bundle plan, Rs 2,498 for 365 days, has been hiked to Rs 2,999. This plan offers unlimited calls, 100 SMSes daily and 2GB data daily.
Details of other plans are given in the attached image.
Data top-ups
The rate for 3GB of data has been raised from Rs 48 to Rs 58, while the rate for 50GB of data has been increased from Rs 251 to Rs 301.
