Airtel kills Rs 299 ‘entry-level’ prepaid plan: Are broader tariff hikes coming?
Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom operator, has discontinued several of its prepaid plans, including the Rs 299 option that provided 1.5 GB of data daily for 28 days. Along with the Rs 579, Rs 619, and Rs 649 plans, Airtel aims to encourage customers to upgrade to higher-priced packs to boost Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).
The Rs 299 plan users will now be automatically transferred to the Rs 349 plan, which offers 2GB of data daily for the same validity period. In doing so, customers who wish to retain their previous data allowance will have to pay Rs 50 more per month, gaining an extra 0.5GB of data. Furthermore, Airtel continues to offer a Rs 399 prepaid plan with 3GB of data per day for 28 days.
While the cheapest Airtel prepaid plan, still available, is the Rs 199 plan, which provides unlimited voice calls. The decision to discontinue certain prepaid plans comes as Airtel and other Indian telecom service providers rely on users upgrading to higher-value plans to increase ARPU. With no broad-based tariff hikes since July 2024, Airtel is trying to prevent customers from migrating to competing operators.
Written by urgent.news from The Indian Express's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
