Bharti Airtel raises entry-level prepaid plan rates in two more circles

Only Gujarat, Kolkata and Madhya Pradesh are the remaining 3 circles where Airtel has not increased the base price yet.

Bharti Airtel, one of the major telecom service providers in India, has once again increased entry-level rates in two more circles. This hike brings the total number of circles where the basic rate hike has been imposed to 19.

Airtel customers of Maharashtra and Kerala will now be offered Rs 155 prepaid plan as the entry-level recharge pack. Users were previously provided Rs 99 prepaid plan for mobile phones as the base recharge pack.

Airtel earlier implemented the rate increases in 15 additional circles after testing them out in Haryana and Odisha circles. Now, 19 of the total 22 circles have Rs 155 prepaid recharge plan as the entry-level plan. Only Gujarat, Kolkata and Madhya Pradesh are the remaining 3 circles where Airtel has not increased the base price yet.

What came as a pleasant surprise for Bharti Airtel here is that its active user base saw an addition despite the tariff hike. Airtel increased the rates for its entry-level prepaid mobile recharge plan for Haryana and Odisha circles at the end of November last year. Add up in the number of active user base in December 2022 for these 2 circles was recorded at 0.1 million and 0.2 million respectively.

In an effort to raise its average income per subscriber, Bharti Airtel raised the minimum tariff by a staggering 56% from Rs 99 to Rs 155 in November last year for 2 circles then imposed the same in 15 other circles towards the end of January this year.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) telecom subscriber data for December 2022, number of active subscribers for Bharti Airtel rose by 6 million during the same time as opposed to 0.7 million during the previous 6 months.

With Rs 155 being the base plan, users get access to unlimited local, STD, and roaming calls as well as 300 SMS and 1 GB of data per day which has a 28-day validity period. Customers who use this recharge can additionally take advantage of Free Wynk Music and HelloTunes free of cost. All subscribers also receive access to Airtel 5G Pus services on current data plans. It won’t be long until Airtel raises rates in the remaining 3 circles.