Airtel prepaid users should prepare themselves to feel the tariff pinch as the telecom operator has announced a tariff hike up to 25 percent in the country. The new tariffs are applicable for pre-paid customers starting November 26. With this hike, Airtel aims to increase its profitability as it looks to bring new investors on board ahead of the 5G spectrum auction. Tariff for post-paid customers is also likely to be revised in the near future.
With this tariff hike, Airtel hopes to increase the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) to Rs 200. The aim is to increase it to Rs 300 to ensure reasonable returns to investors. The telecom operators usually use ARPU as a yardstick to measure profitability.
“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,” the company said in its press release.
Airtel Pre-paid Tariff Plan (Updated)
| Current Price (Rs) | Validity | New Price (Rs) | Benefits |
| 79 | 28 days | 99 | 50% more talktime of Rs 99, 200MB data 1p/sec voice tariff |
| 149 | 28 days | 179 | Unlimited calling, 100 SMS/day, 2 GB data |
| 219 | 28 days | 265 | Unlimited calling, 100 SMS/day, 1 GB/day data |
| 249 | 28 days | 299 | Unlimited calling, 100 SMS/day, 1.5 GB/day data |
| 298 | 28 days | 359 | Unlimited calling, 100 SMS/day, 2 GB/day data |
| 399 | 56 days | 479 | Unlimited calling, 100 SMS/day, 1.5 GB/day data |
| 449 | 56 days | 549 | Unlimited calling, 100 SMS/day, 2 GB/day data |
| 379 | 84 days | 455 | Unlimited calling, 100 SMS/day, 6 GB data |
| 598 | 84 days | 719 | Unlimited calling, 100 SMS/day, 1.5 GB/day data |
| 698 | 84 days | 839 | Unlimited calling, 100 SMS/day, 2 GB/day data |
| 1498 | 365 days | 1799 | Unlimited calling, 100 SMS/day, 24 GB data |
| 2498 | 365 days | 2999 | Unlimited calling, 100 SMS/day, 2 GB/day data |
| 48 | Unlimited | 58 | 3 GB data |
| 98 | Unlimited | 118 | 12 GB data |
| 251 | Unlimited | 301 | 50 GB data |
Airtel has raised the minimum voice tariff plan from Rs 79 to Rs 99, while making changes to other pre-paid voice and data bundled plans. Data prices have also gone up.
This hike by Airtel has opened the gates for other telecom operators especially Vodafone-Idea which has been struggling to stay afloat due to crunch finances. Jio is also expected to increase its tariff for pre-paid and post-paid users in the coming weeks.
