CIOInsider India Magazine

India’s biggest telecom operators have increased prepaid mobile tariffs. While the increase in tariff prices is good for mobile network operators in terms of Average revenue per user (ARPU), it is a further push in the road of inflation. However, one optimistic aspect is around faster 5G deployment.

Being the mainstream telecom operators, a huge number of Indians depend on Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel for telecommunication services. Increase in tariff price mainly impacts on daily wage labourers; the new tariff price marks a major impact on these people.

Let’s look at the nuances of this new development.

Bharti Airtel
Airtel reported a loss of 22,830.1 Crores as of reports till 30th September. Company has increased its tariff plans about 23 to 25 percent to overcome this loss as well as to introduce advanced features of 5G.

The price is hiked around 23 to 25 percent, while the company has maintained the mobile average revenue per user around Rs.200. New Airtel plans now begin from Rs.99 instead of previous Rs77. Meanwhile, unlimited voice plans begin from Rs.179 instead of Rs.149. The annual plan has also changed from Rs.2498 to Rs.2999. On the other hand, data-top ups are priced at Rs.58 for 3GB, Rs.118 for 12GB and 301 for 50GB respectively.

Vodafone Idea
Company has faced heavy loss of Rs50, 992 crore as per the quarter reports. Hence, increasing the ARPU and the increase in prepaid mobile tariffs might be the only way for them to maintain the stability of cash flow.

The new Prepaid Tariffs of Vodafone Idea are as follows. With the price hike around 25 percent, the Rs.79 basic plan has now become 99 with an unchanged validity of 28 days. The 28 days’ Rs.149 plan is now available at Rs.179.

Jio
In somewhat an unexpected turn of events, Jio was also forced to increase tariff rates as they lost about 1.90 crores users recently. In the aftermath, Jio has increased the rate of their plans up to 23 percent to maintain the pace of their growth graph.

Jio has said that the new plans will be effective from 1st December. According to the new tariffs announced, the basic plan of Rs.75 with validity 28 days has been increased to Rs.91 without changing the validity. However, it is still the lowest prepaid recharge plan compared other network operators. Annual prepaid plan of Rs.2399 is available now at Rs.2879. When it comes to data, the previous Rs.199 plan is now available for Rs.239 rupees with 1.5 GB data per day with the validity of 28 days, while 2GB data per day is available for Rs.299 with same validity. The 56 days’ plan costing Rs.399 is now available for Rs.479 and offers 1.5 GB per day.

Airtel vs Vi vs Jio: Prepaid Plans with 28 Days Validity
Airtel and Vi have increased their plans to Rs. 99. Plan offers 28 days validity, 200 MB data and one-paise per second voice tariff. This is a voice plan and gives voice benefits. Airtel said that they will give 50 percent more talktime at Rs 99. Airtel also provides prepaid plan that will be at Rs.179 and offers unlimited calling and 100 SMS per day with 2GB data. Jio’s unlimited plan of Rs.129 has hiked to Rs.155. This plan offers 2GB data per month, unlimited voice calls, and 300 SMS. The plan of Rs199 hiked to Rs 239 and offers 1.5GB daily data, unlimited voice calls and 100SMS per day. Jio’s Rs.249 plan is now available at Rs.299 and offers 2GB daily data, unlimited voice calls and 100 SMS per day.

Airtel vs Vi vs Jio: Prepaid Plans with 56 Days Validity
Airtel has two 56 days validity plans at Rs.479 and Rs.549 and gives 1.5GB daily data and 2GB daily data respectively with unlimited calls and 100 SMS. VI also has two prepaid plans that give 56 days’ validity and is priced at Rs 479 and Rs 539. These plans also bring with them 1.5GB daily data and 2GB daily data respectively along with unlimited calls and 100 SMS per day. On the other hand, Jio has two prepaid plans with 56 days’ validity that offer 1.5GB and 2GB daily data, unlimited voice calls and 100 SMS per day. The plans’ prices hiked to Rs 479 and Rs 533 respectively.

Airtel vs Vi vs Jio: Prepaid Plans with 84 Days Validity
Airtel’s prepaid plan with 84 days validity is now priced at Rs.455, Rs.719 and Rs.839. While Rs.455 plan gives 6GB data, the Rs.719 and Rs.839 plans come with 1.5GB and 2GB daily data respectively. All plans come with unlimited calls and 100 SMS per day. Vi’s plans start from Rs.459 and goes up to Rs.719, and Rs.839, offering 6 GB fixed data, 1.5GB per day data and 2GB per day data respectively, in addition to unlimited calling and 100 SMS (per day). Jio’s plans priced at Rs.329, Rs.555 and Rs.599 are hiked to Rs 395, Rs 666 and Rs 719 respectively. While all plans offer unlimited calls and 100 SMS per day and 6GB data (fixed), 1.5GB daily data and 2GB daily data.

Airtel vs Vi vs Jio: Prepaid Plans with 365 Days Validity
Airtel has two annual prepaid plans. These plans are available for Rs.1799 and Rs.2999 rand will provide 24GB (fixed) data and 2 GB daily data respectively. These plans offer unlimited calling and 100 SMS per day. Vi’s annual prepaid plans are priced at Rs.1799 and Rs.2899. The benefits of these plans are, 24GB (fixed) data and 1.5GB daily data respectively, unlimited calls, and 100 SMS per day. Jio’s Rs.1299 prepaid plan has hiked to Rs.1559. This plan gives 24GB data (fixed), unlimited voice calls, and 3600 SMS. The Rs.2399 prepaid plan hiked to Rs 2879 as well. It is an annual plan that provides 2GB daily data, unlimited voice calls, and 100 SMS per day. Jio has also hiked data add-on prepaid plans. The plans priced at Rs.51, Rs.101 and Rs.251 has been hiked to Rs.61, Rs.121 and Rs.301. These plans give 6GB, 12GB and 50GB data respectively.