Mobile users may soon need to spend more on prepaid plans as several telecom companies begin adjusting tariffs to improve profit margins.
All major telecom operators except Reliance Jio have already started revising the prices of select prepaid plans from November. This comes at a time when overall revenue growth in the sector has slowed to 10 percent in the September quarter, compared to 14 to 16 percent over the previous four quarters. Analysts now expect revenue growth to weaken further in the December quarter, increasing the chances of a wider tariff hike.
Vodafone Idea has already raised the price of its annual ₹1,999 prepaid plan by 12 percent and its 84 day ₹509 plan by 7 percent. Bharti Airtel has also increased its lowest voice only plan from ₹189 by ₹10. State run BSNL, on the other hand, has reduced the validity of some of its entry level prepaid plans without changing the listed prices.
A brokerage firm said that with stable inflation and no major elections expected in the coming months, telecom companies are likely to restart the tariff hike cycle in December. It projects a possible increase of about ₹50 for the popular 28 day plan offering 1.5GB daily data.
An industry analyst said, “Vi has lost most of its low end user base to rivals Airtel and Jio, while a section of old, loyal user base has stuck around. These annual plans are quite popular among them. They were being discounted due to Vi lacking 5G services, but now they are at par with rivals.” The analyst declined to be named.
Vodafone Idea management had earlier indicated that the next major price hike would be similar in scale to the previous one, but would come after a gap of around 15 months from the last increase.
With most operators now under pressure to defend revenue growth and improve profitability, further changes in prepaid plan pricing are widely expected in the coming weeks. Customers may need to prepare for higher monthly recharge bills as the sector moves into its next phase of tariff revision.
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