Brokerages have estimated that Bharti Airtel's choice to eliminate certain prepaid packs may result in an increase in average revenue per user (ARPU) within the range of Rs 4-12, as the telecom company shifted towards focused plan adjustments to enhance premiumisation and monetization.

Some perceived the alterations as targeted plan adjustments instead of a universal or official price increase, yet noted it would support Airtel's premiumisation approach by encouraging customers to elevate their service.

Bharti Airtel recently eliminated four prepaid plans -- Rs 299, Rs 579, Rs 619, and Rs 649 -- resulting in subscribers of the popular Rs 299 plan having more expensive alternatives available.

The revised prepaid offering deck maintains the entry-level Rs 199 and Rs 219 plans, but indicates that users of the well-liked Rs 299 plan may have to switch to the Rs 349 package, resulting in an approximate 16 per cent price increase for them.

The brokerages - Morgan Stanley, IIFL Capital, JM Financial, and Citi - have outlined various scenarios in their latest notes to predict the possible growth of Airtel's ARPU.

Airtel's plan rationalization is expected to increase monthly ARPU by approximately Rs 4 to Rs 12 across the four brokerages, as the elimination of entry-level packs encourages subscribers to move to higher-value data plans.

Morgan Stanley projected that if 20-30 percent of Airtel's wireless users were on plans priced below Rs 349 and are now encouraged to switch to the Rs 349 plan, these changes might result in a gross ARPU rise of approximately Rs 8-12 at the company level.

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The plan adjustment is a targeted effort by Bharti Airtel to enhance monetization while leveraging customer demand for larger data plans. It noted that Airtel has initiated changes to the tariff structure, and it will be intriguing to observe if and when other operators take similar actions.

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Citi projected an ARPU gain of approximately Rs 4 monthly based on specific assumptions regarding the subscriber composition for the Rs 299 pack. It stated that the action aligned with Airtel management's approach to boosting ARPU growth via premiumization.