Tariff hike: Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Jio APRU set to rise; impact on data growth likely

NEW DELHI: Analysts at brokerage firms said that tariff hike by all three telco — Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea Limited and Bharti Airtel — will improve the overall financial health of the telecom sector, and will help these telcos increase their respective average revenue per users (ARPUs).

Analysts, however, said that the tariff hike will have an impact on the overall data consumption, which has been driven by cheapest data prices in the world.

About a billion mobile phone subscribers in India will pay up to 40% or so more to make calls and use data from this month, with private operators Reliance Jio , Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea increasing prices for the first time since 2016 to shore up finances.

Both Airtel and VIL increased rates only for prepaid subscribers, who account for over 90% of their user base, starting December 3. Price increases by Jio, which caters to 355 million customers, will be effective from December 6.