The postpaid user base in India is going to grow pretty fast in the coming years. One of the major drivers behind this would be the narrowing gap between the benefits of prepaid and postpaid plans. It is worth noting that the telcos are currently not increasing the prices of the postpaid plans, instead, they are reducing them in a way. Jio and Airtel both introduced new postpaid plans recently, which are meant for the usage of more than one user. In simple words, these plans are family plans.
According to a recent report from Crisil (via ET Telecom), India's postpaid user base is set to grow to 12% (of the total mobile user base) in FY24 compared to the 8% it is now. Airtel and Jio are currently offering truly unlimited 5G data to users with their postpaid plans. In addition to that, the telcos are also bundling a ton of other benefits, such as OTT (over-the-top) subscriptions and more. Vodafone Idea (Vi), even though hasn't been able to launch 5G yet, provides a killer deal to postpaid customers with its Vi Max postpaid plans. Especially when it comes to the Vi REDX plan.
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Telcos are unlikely to raise postpaid tariffs, and the same has been pointed out by the CEO (chief executive officer) of Vi in the company's Q3 earnings call. Rising prices of prepaid plans in the foreseeable future could lead to users shifting to postpaid services because of the prospect of getting a better deal. Why the postpaid tariffs won't go up is a conversation for another day. Also, it is worth pointing out here that the telcos are unlikely to raise the tariffs of their prepaid offerings in the near future. It may only happen at some point in 2024.
Family postpaid plans are a good deal for consumers as they offer a lot for a very reasonable price. Especially focusing on the new plans that were introduced by Airtel and Jio, the adoption of postpaid services should likely grow in India. This would be a happy development for the telcos as the more postpaid users they can add, the more they can boost their average revenue per user (ARPU) figure.
