Bharti Airtel has said that India’s current telecom pricing structure is “broken,” arguing that heavy internet users are paying significantly less compared to global markets while lower-income users may already be at their affordability limit. The remarks were made by Airtel Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
According to the company, India’s unlimited mobile data ecosystem has created a situation where users consuming very high volumes of internet data continue to pay relatively low monthly charges compared to customers in countries such as the United States and Europe.
Airtel Questions “Unlimited Data” Structure
Airtel stated that the widespread availability of low-cost unlimited data plans has reshaped internet consumption habits in India over the past several years. Video streaming, social media usage, gaming, and always-connected smartphone usage became mainstream partly due to affordable internet access.
However, the telecom company now believes that the pricing architecture may no longer be sustainable. During the earnings discussion, Vittal said wealthy users consuming large amounts of data are effectively capped at spending around Rs 340–350 per month because of unlimited plans.
The company also indicated that while premium users continue to increase their data consumption, telecom operators are not seeing proportional revenue growth from those users.
Focus on ARPU Growth
The discussion comes amid slowing growth in telecom industry ARPU, or Average Revenue Per User. Airtel management said the company is not satisfied with the pace of ARPU expansion and plans to continue focusing on existing growth strategies.
ARPU is considered a key financial metric for telecom companies because it reflects how much revenue operators generate from each subscriber. Industry analysts have closely tracked ARPU after telecom companies implemented tariff hikes in 2024.
India Continues To Be One Of The Cheapest Data Markets
India remains among the world’s largest mobile internet markets by subscriber base. As of March 2026, the country had more than 1 billion broadband subscribers, with wireless broadband accounting for the vast majority of users.
Affordable internet pricing has been one of the defining features of India’s telecom sector over the last decade. Industry competition and large-scale adoption of smartphones contributed to lower tariffs and widespread access to digital services.
Airtel said that in several international markets, unlimited data plans are priced substantially higher than comparable Indian offerings. The company suggested that the gap between consumption and pricing has widened over time.
Concerns Over Smartphone Pricing
Apart from data pricing, Airtel also flagged rising smartphone prices as another challenge for the sector. The company said increasing handset costs could slow the migration of feature phone users to smartphones, particularly in price-sensitive segments.
India’s telecom industry continues to balance affordability, subscriber growth, infrastructure investment, and increasing data consumption as operators expand 5G services and digital connectivity across the country.
60-Word Summary
Bharti Airtel has said India’s telecom pricing system is “broken,” arguing that heavy internet users pay too little under unlimited data plans. The company stated that wealthy users consume large amounts of data without proportional revenue contribution. Airtel also highlighted slowing ARPU growth and rising smartphone prices while noting that India remains one of the world’s cheapest mobile internet markets.
