



Testing the waters? Why Airtel is raising the tariff of a high-value prepaid plan
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator by market share, has raised the price of one of its long-validity prepaid plans, a move analysts said may be aimed at testing the waters for broader tariff hikes.On Sunday, Airtel raised the tariff of its ₹859 mobile plan — valid for 84 days with 1.5 GB of data per day — to ₹899, according to its website. It also discontinued its ₹799 plan with 77-day validity.The tariff hike is particularly significant because headline prices across all plans have remained unchanged for the past two years.
While these hikes pinch consumers, operators see price increases as essential for improving their returns and recovering the massive capital spent on 5G infrastructure.Analysts said that Airtel’s ₹40 price hike on its popular plan—a 4.7% increase—will likely result in only a marginal improvement to its average revenue per user (Arpu), a key metric that reflects the monthly revenue telecom operators earn per subscriber.However, some experts said the move could be a strategic test of the market, allowing the operator to gauge the reaction of high-value subscribers and potentially paving the way for more meaningful, incremental price increases over time.Kranthi Bathini, director of equity strategy at WealthMills Securities, a Sebi-registered securities broking company, said, "Airtel might be testing the waters. What we see is a clear-cut duopoly in the sector, with telcos having the flexibility to tweak tariffs.
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