Brace For Impact: Airtel Will Increase Tariff For Voice, Data; Determined To Earn Rs 200 Per User By 2022-End

Airtel has increased the tariffs for its prepaid plans, yet again, and this has been confirmed by the company CEO Gopal Vittal as well. 

The CEO has confirmed that the ARPU, i.e., average revenue per user will be at Rs. 200. 

Airtel To Increase Prepaid Plan Rates In 2022, CEO Confirms

Airtel is reportedly dissatisfied with the telecom regulator’s base prices for 5G. Telecom operators are dissatisfied with TRAI’s recommendations for 5G reverse prices, and they have been pushing for 5G reserve prices to be lowered by 90 percent. 

As per Vittal, “The industry had hoped for a massive reduction in prices; while there has been a reduction, it has not been adequate and is in that sense, disappointing. The first port of call is to get to 200 which will require at least one round of tariff increase.”

He has assured that the customers will be able to accept this price increase as it is simply temporary. 

Despite the price hike, there has been an addition of as many as 5.24 million 4G users in March. This is a huge increase as compared to the 3 million subscribers in the previous period of three months. 

In November, Airtel was the first telecom operator to increase the prices of the prepaid plans by 18 to 25 percent. Along with Airtel, Vodafone Idea has also revised its tariffs in the same range and Reliance Jio had increased its prices by up to 20 percent last year. 

Increase In Tariffs Inevitable

In December, the emerging markets technology, media & entertainment and telecommunications (TMT) leader, EY, Prashant Singhal, “The increase is inevitable as India is still the lowest tariff country in the world and with the increase in prepaid, postpaid is likely to follow suit.”

Both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have indicated their desire to reach an Arpu (average realization per user) of Rs 300 in the coming future. 

They would need this to remain sustainable in the market. Presently, Vodafone Idea has the lowest Arpu of Rs 109 among telecom firms. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel leads with an ARPU of Rs 153, while Reliance Jio’s ARPU stands at Rs 143.6.