Airtel Announces Tariff Hike Up to 25 % For Prepaid Plans

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday announced that it will be raising prepaid tariffs by up to 25 % with effect from November 26 (Friday).

It cited the reason that the move was necessary to increase mobile revenues in order to safeguard the business's financial health.

"Bharti Airtel has always maintained that the mobile Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) needs to be at ₹200 and ultimately at ₹300, so as to provide a reasonable return on capital that allows for a financially healthy business model," Bharti said in a statement.

For the second quarter ended September 2021, the company's mobile ARPU stood at ₹153 as against ₹143 in July-September 2020.

"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," it said, adding that therefore, as a first step, it was taking the lead in rebalancing tariffs.

After the hike, the current ₹79 plan will cost ₹99 from November 26. Likewise, the ₹149 plan will cost ₹30 more at ₹179, the ₹1,498 plan will become ₹1,799 and the ₹ 2,498 plan will cost ₹2,999. Data top ups will now cost ₹58 (up from ₹48), ₹118 (₹98) and ₹301 (₹251), respectively.