Bharti Airtel has today announced that the telecom operator will be increasing its prepaid plan prices for various plans in India. The new rates will affect voice plans, unlimited voice and data plan bundles and data top-up recharges. Based on the plan itself, the new hiked price will represent an increase of around 20 per cent to 25 per cent. The new changes in plans will be effective from November 26, 2021
The entry-level voice plan by Airtel now sees a 25 per cent hike, while most unlimited voice bundles (the plans with unlimited calling and a daily-data limit for speed) will see hikes of about 20 per cent.
New Airtel plans with prices
Airtel’s new prepaid plan prices now begin at Rs 99 instead of the Rs 79 plan. Meanwhile unlimited voice bundles now start at Rs 179, instead of the Rs 149 plan, going all the way up to Rs 2,999 instead of Rs 2,498 for the annual plan. Meanwhile, data top-ups are now priced at Rs 58 (3GB), Rs 118 (12GB) and Rs 301 (50GB). Here’s the full list of plans with their new prices.
“Bharti Airtel 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,” the company said.
“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. Therefore, as a first step, we are taking the lead in rebalancing our tariffs during the month of November. Accordingly, our new tariffs as indicated below will come into effect from November 26, 2021,” the company added.
The move could signal a wave of increased tariffs as companies look at ways to gain profit ahead of the upcoming 5G wave. We could also possibly see other players like Jio and Vodafone Idea increase prices soon.
