From Financialexpress · Urvi Malvania · · 1m 20s
Telcos' Tariff Push Hits Affordability Wall
Airtel's Rs 299 plan return shows telecom operators' struggle to raise prices without losing customers.
In brief
Airtel's Rs 299 plan return shows telecom operators' struggle to raise prices without losing customers. Airtel's reintroduction of its Rs 299 plan after a tariff cut highlights the affordability constraints on telecom operators' efforts to increase revenue per user. Originally reported by Financialexpress.
Telcos' Tariff Push Hits Affordability Wall
Telcos' pursuit of higher average revenue per user is constrained by how much subscribers can afford to pay for connectivity.
Bharti Airtel's Pricing Strategy
Airtel's managing director and CEO Shashwat Sharma says the industry's pricing architecture is too flat, allowing unlimited data without adequate monetisation.
“When we speak about pricing architecture in the industry, it’s largely got to do with the fact that it’s a very flat architecture and at very low arpus, you’re giving away unlimited usage and data and you’re not monetising consumption in any way”
Jio's Performance Metrics
Jio added 9.1 million subscribers in September quarter while monthly churn remained unchanged at 1.6% and arpu rose 1.5% to rs 218.8.
Airtel's Tariff Rationalisation
Airtel removed its rs 299 prepaid plan in August, leading to higher churn as competitors maintained similar pricing options.
Airtel Restores Rs 299 Plan
Airtel has reintroduced the rs 299 plan with daily data reduced from 1.5 gb to 1 gb to retain affordability.
2G Penetration and Affordability
261 million subscribers remain on 2g networks as of june 2026, with rural mobile broadband penetration at 45%.
Premium Service Additions
Airtel added international roaming benefits to postpaid plans while vodafone idea introduced roaming benefits across 170 countries.
What to remember
Airtel's reintroduction of its Rs 299 plan after a tariff cut highlights the affordability constraints on telecom operators' efforts to increase revenue per user.
