Bharti Airtel on Wednesday raised its minimum prepaid plan from Rs 49 to Rs 79, making the announcement weeks after revising its post-paid tariffs,
“Airtel has discontinued its Rs 49 entry level recharge plan,” the company said in a statement.
“Airtel customers on entry-level recharges can now stay connected for longer without worrying about their account balance,” the telecom operator said. So, the company’s prepaid packs now start from the Rs 79 smart recharge plan. It gives 200MB of data, and talktime worth Rs 64. The plan will remain valid for 28 days.
Apart from this, Airtel has also discontinued its Rs 49 entry-level prepaid recharge. The Rs 49 Airtel Smart Recharge plan used to offer customers talktime worth Rs 38.52, and 100MB of data. Once the provided 100MB data is exhausted, users will be charged Rs 0.50 per MB. The plan comes with a validity period of 28 days. The new plan will be effective starting July 29.
Airtel and rival Vi had both upgraded their post paid plans recently, mainly for their corporate users, but this latest decision will have a larger impact since more than 95% of India’s customers are prepaid.
Airtel is the first to raise tariffs and experts feel that other telecom companies are likely to follow suit. Last week, the company discontinued its Rs 749 Family Postpaid Plan for new customers and will now offer Rs 999 as the only Family Postpaid Plan with enhanced data benefits.
Customers can add a connection to any Airtel postpaid plan at just Rs 299/SIM and get 30 GB additional data (10 GB earlier), unlimited calling and Thanks benefits.
For retail customers, the prices of Airtel postpaid plans start at Rs 399 per month and for corporate customers at Rs 299 per month.
Whether this is a good move by the telco or not, there’s no saying. One thing that Airtel has made clear is that it doesn’t want too many low ARPU customers in its portfolio. The telco is aiming to reach an ARPU of Rs 200 and with a tariff hike around the corner, its ARPU is going to grow even further.
