Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea’s New Cheaper Plans Are Not So Cheap
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea’s introduced cheaper plans to match Reliance Jio’s tariffs.
Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Vodafone Idea Ltd. introduced cheaper plans to match Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.’s tariffs. Still, these are priced higher than similar plans offered earlier as the two operators look to shore up revenue to pay thousands of crores in pending statutory dues.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea introduced Rs 219 prepaid plans that are valid for 28 days and offer 1 GB of data every day, according to pricing available on their websites.
The lower price points reflect the wallet-size constraints of consumers, Jefferies said in a note. But similar plans were available for Rs 169 last month, indicating a 30 percent hike in tariffs.
India’s telecom sector is struggling under mounting debt and falling profits ever since Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. unleashed a tariff war. The Supreme Court order to pay Rs 92,000 crore in dues and penalties threatened to cripple Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea’s operations, prompting them to increase tariffs.
To bridge the gap with Reliance Jio’s offerings, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea also introduced Rs 399 plan which provides 1.5 GB data every day and is valid for 56 days.
The two wireless carriers also removed cap on outgoing calls to other networks. Earlier, they capped such calls at 1,000, 3,000, and 12,000 minutes for plans with validity of 28, 84, and 365 days, respectively. Beyond that, they charged 6 paisa per minute. Reliance Jio, however, continues to cap the number of minutes on such outgoing calls.
Except the 56-day plans, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea’s new tariffs are higher than that of Reliance Jio, which offers 1 GB of data at a discount of 39 percent.