Telecom players jack up tariffs

The three major telecom players — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio Infocomm — on Sunday announced tariff hikes of up to 50 per cent.

While Sunil Mittal-led Airtel raised tariffs by up to 50 per cent in one plan, the average hike in Vodafone Idea was in the range of 20-30 per cent.

The hikes will be applicable only to their pre-paid customers. For both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, the new tariffs will be effective from December 3.

Reliance Jio, which had caused a disruption in the industry through its free calls and cheap tariffs, said it will launch new unlimited plans for its pre-paid and post-paid customers from December 6 that will raise its voice and data tariff by up to 40 per cent.