You May Have to Pay More For Phone Bills as Jio, Airtel, Vi Plan To Raise Tariffs | Details Here 

According to reports, with the proposed price hike, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Idea (Vi) are likely to add up to 40 million customers in FY23.

New Delhi: Attention mobile phone users. You may have to pay more for your phone bills as Jio, Airtel, Vi are planning to raise tariffs soon. As per reports, the telecom operators are mulling another round of tariff hikes to 10-12 per cent to improve their average revenue per user (ARPU).

With the proposed price hike, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Idea (Vi) are likely to add up to 40 million customers in FY23, in the underpenetrated rural markets, ET reported, citing analysts.

It must be mentioned that the telecom operators, including Vi, did not lose any active users in the March quarter even after a 20-25 per cent tariff increase during November and December last year. The telcos have faced minimum issues despite increasing tariffs by nearly 25% in November 2021 and this has paved the way for another tariff hike.

Taking this matter into consideration, analysts are of opinion that the market is ready to adjust with another tariff hike as telecom tariffs in India remain among the lowest in global standards.

The analysts also feel that the new subscriptions will be fuelled by the rural markets where the tele-density is currently around 60%.

Among the telco, operators, Mukesh Ambani-led Jio and Sunil Mittal-led Airtel are expected to attract the bulk of new subscribers, and Vodafone Idea may enjoy modest gains.

Among the analysts, Mayuresh Joshi, head of equity research at the Indian unit of US equity research firm, William O’ Neil & Co, believes that the combination of another 10-12 per cent tariff hike and steady customer gains this fiscal will trigger around 10 per cent on-year average revenue per user (ARPU) growth for the top three telcos by end FY23.

Analysts also feel that Airtel and Jio will grab a lion’s share of the estimated subscribers additions through FY23 because of their stronger 4G play.