Airtel and Jio Shock Users… Tariffs May Increase by 20%!

New Delhi: India’s two largest telecom operators, Reliance Jio and Airtel, are reportedly planning to increase the prices of their recharge plans by more than 20%.

These telecom giants invested hundreds of billions of rupees to acquire licenses in the 5G spectrum auctions and build advanced 5G networks. However, because they have been offering unlimited 5G services at no extra cost under existing 4G plans for the past few years, their profits have not met expectations. To recover their massive investments and significantly increase the average revenue earned per customer (ARPU), the companies are reportedly preparing to implement a major hike in tariff prices.

Along with the price increase, Jio and Airtel have also made significant changes to their existing plan structures to encourage customers to switch to more premium plans. Earlier, even basic plans offering 1.5 GB of data per day included free access to unlimited 5G data. Under the current policy, however, customers must recharge with plans that provide at least 2 GB of data per day to be eligible for unlimited 5G services.

In addition, the companies have reportedly withdrawn low-cost monthly value plans that were mainly used to keep mobile numbers active. As a result, even users who need only basic calling services now have to spend more every month. Consequently, India—which was once known as the world’s most affordable mobile data market—is gradually moving toward premium-priced telecom services.