Jio joins Voda Idea & Airtel in raising tariffs

Jio joins Voda Idea & Airtel in raising tariffs

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:29.11.2021

Consumer tariffs for over 90% of mobile customers in India will go up with Reliance Jio, the country’s largest operator, joining rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea in increasing rates.

The upward revision in consumer tariffs is happening after a period of nearly two years and comes as companies now prepare for the launch of 5G services, which will see massive investments into network, spectrum and new technologies.

Jio announced a hike of up to 21% in tariffs, a little lower to the changes made by its rivals and maintaining price competitiveness of its plans. Its entry plan will now cost Rs 91 against Rs 75 previously, but will still be Rs 8 cheaper than the price of Airtel and Vodafone.

“These plans will provide the best value in the industry (and) uphold the Jio promise of providing the best-quality service at the lowest price globally,” the company said while announcing that price revisions effective December 1.

The price hikes by telecom companies come nearly two months after the government had handed out a bailout-cum-revival package to the industry, aimed at improving financials and business fundamentals.

Airtel was the first to announce the change when on November 22 it spoke about raising tariffs across almost all the pre-paid price packs. Airtel had said the measure will help it improve profitability per customer, which is known as average revenue per user (ARPU) in telecom industry parlance.

“Airtel has always maintained that the mobile ARPU needs to be at Rs 200 and ultimately at Rs 300, so as to provide a reasonable return on capital that allows for a financially-healthy business model. We also believe that this level of ARPU will enable the substantial investments required in networks and spectrum,” the company had said.

Airtel’s ARPU was at Rs 153 in the second quarter, while Jio had an ARPU of Rs 144 in the same period, and Vodafone Idea Rs 109.