Bharti Airtel jacks up tariffs across pre-paid plans

Bharti Airtel on Monday jacked up tariffs across its pre-paid plans as the Sunil Mittal-company looks to ramp up its average revenue per user and generate funds for its 5G charge.

Airtel announced 20-25 per cent tariff hikes for various prepaid offerings, including tariffed voice plans, unlimited voice bundles and data top-ups. The new rates will come into effect from November 26.

In tariffed voice plans, the rates have been hiked 25.2 per cent to Rs 99 from Rs 79, with 50 per cent more talktime.

In a statement announcing the revised mobile tariffs, Airtel said the average revenue per user (ARPU) had to rise to Rs 200 a month — and eventually to Rs 300 — in order to ensure a healthy return on capital that was critical to support a healthy business model.