Airtel Withdraws Four Prepaid Plans, ₹299 Users Face Shift To Costlier Options | X – airtelindia
New Delhi, Aug 12: Bharti Airtel has withdrawn four prepaid plans – Rs 299, Rs 579, Rs 619 and Rs 649 – leaving subscribers of the popular Rs 299 plan with pricier options to choose from. Experts say that the latest move by Airtel signals what may be an inevitable industry shift towards higher tariffs as telcos sharpen their focus on improving average revenue per user (ARPU).The reshuffled prepaid offering deck leaves the entry-level Rs 199 and Rs 219 plans unchanged, but it means that subscribers of the popular Rs 299 plan will now have to opt for the Rs 349 pack, translating into a price rise of about 16 per cent for them.While there is no official word from the company, people aware of the development said the move is part of Airtel’s efforts to drive sustained ARPU growth.
They argued that subscribers on the Rs 299 plan would often exhaust their data allowance and end up buying top-ups or recharging again, anyway. The Rs 349 plan, in comparison, offers unlimited 5G data.
Bharti Airtel management, during the earnings call last week, had said the company sees potential for raising tariffs on plans that offer unlimited data at lower price points. In response to a question if Bharti Airtel needs to hike tariffs given that it is recording healthy growth, Executive Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal had said when the company talks about tariff repair, it is actually about the architecture of mobile plans in place.“Which means that for a very low level of pricing, you get unlimited data, and that means ARPU is capped. That to me is not a healthy way to operate it because if you look at it, and we have talked about this before,” Vittal said.He said every market has offerings in terms of small, medium, large to extra large and therefore, there is a need for “sensible price architecture” in mobile services.Airtel India’s average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 5.6 per cent to Rs 264, highest in the industry, during the first quarter of the current fiscal, compared to Rs 250 a year ago.Also Watch:
Experts said Airtel’s move could also set the stage for other telecom operators to follow suit as the industry pushes for better realisations.Bharti Airtel reported a 37.3 per cent increase in profit after tax to Rs 8,167 crore in the June quarter, driven by strong growth across India and Africa operations.The revenue from operations during the quarter increased 18.3 per cent to Rs 58,539 crore from Rs 49,462.6 crore in the June quarter a year ago.(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ’s editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)