- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) has raised its mobile tariffs for prepaid connections a day after competitor Airtel. It said the hike will help improve the average revenue per user (ARPU) and “help address financial stress faced by the industry”, India Today reported.
The new tariffs are set to come into effect from Thursday (25), a day before Airtel’s plans will undergo a change for prepaid clients.
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Vi’s new prepaid plans are comparatively cheaper than those of Airtel, though nominally.
For example, the cheapest plan of Rs 79 (£0.79) will now cost Rs 99 (£0.99), offering limited local and STD calls for 28 days alongside 200 MB of data.
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The highest value recharge plan of Rs 2,399 (£24) will now cost Rs 2,899 (£29).
Vi is charging only Rs 100 (£1) less than Airtel for the annual plan which offers unlimited local, STD and roaming calls, alongside 1.5GB per day and 100 SMSes a day.
The data top-up plans have also become dearer by up to Rs 67 (£0.67). The lowest tier of Rs 48 (£0.48) will cost Rs 58 (£0.58) after the rejig and the plan which earlier cost Rs 351 (£3.53) will now be priced at Rs 418 (£4.2).
“Vi remains committed to play its role in accelerating the realization of the government’s Digital India vision. In line with its commitment to providing its customers with simple and convenient products, Vi has curated an optimum range of feature rich plans for both voice and data,” the company said in a release.
The operator also said a high ARPU will allow it to focus on making “India’s fastest mobile network” better, citing Ookla’s report on fixed broadband and mobile network testing in India. According to the report, more Indian homes now have better fixed broadband speeds with over 36 per cent of connections being in the range of 50-300 Mbps (Megabits per second).
The India Today report said Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, started what could be seen as a move to reduce the burden on telecom companies through hike in mobile tariffs. It said with Vi also having done the same, market leader Reliance Jio is likely to follow suit.
