From November 26, Airtel prepaid tariff to be up by 25 per cent
From November 26, Airtel users will have to shell out more for their pre-paid connections, for Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has announced 20-25 per cent tariff hikes for various prepaid offerings, including tariffed voice plans, unlimited voice bundles and data top-ups.
The entry-level tariffed voice plan has been raised by about 25 per cent while for unlimited voice bundles, the increase in most cases is about 20 per cent. For data top-up plans, the tariffs have increased by about 20-21 per cent.
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In a statement announcing the revised mobile tariffs, Airtel said it had always maintained that the mobile Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) needed to be at Rs 200 and ultimately at Rs 300 to provide a reasonable return on capital that allowed 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,” an Airtel statement said.
The tariffed plans
In tariffed voice plans, the new rate is Rs 99 against the current Rs 79 --- an increase of 25.3 per cent. This comes with 28 days validity and benefits like 50 per cent more talk time worth Rs 99, 200MB data, 1p/sec voice tariff. Tariff of unlimited voice bundles and data top-ups has also been increased.
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In the unlimited voice bundle, Airtel’s plan priced at Rs 149 will now be Rs 179 with a validity of 28 days and benefits such as unlimited calling, 100 SMS/day, 2 GB data; even as at the top end the Rs 2,498 plan has been hiked to Rs 2,999 and comes with 365 days for unlimited calling, 100 SMS/day and 2 GB/day data.
For data top-ups, the Rs 48 plan would now cost Rs 58, offering 3 GB data; while the Rs 98 plan has been increased to Rs 118 with 12 GB data. Airtel has also announced a tariff hike in Rs 251 data top-up plan, which will now cost Rs 301 with 50 GB data.
Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal had earlier this year said the industry’s tariffs needed to be increased amid tremendous stress in the telecom sector.
-PTC News with agency inputs
