Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom operator, is not looking to charge separately for 5G in the near future. There were reports that Airtel wants to remove the unlimited 5G data offer in the second half of 2024. But that is likely not going to happen. Instead, the telco will look to hike the overall tariffs. This makes more sense because 5G doesn't have many consumer use cases.
"I don’t think we’ll (immediately) charge separately for 5G, we just need the data tariffs to go up.," said Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises, in an interaction with ET.
Read More - Airtel Says Get Fiber Over AirFiber if Available in Your Area
Airtel's average revenue per user (ARPU) at the end of Q2 FY24 was Rs 203. The telco's short-term ARPU target is Rs 200 and in the medium-term, it wants to reach the Rs 300 figure.
Mittal said that the ideal ARPU is Rs 300 and that he didn't anticipate that it would take so long to reach the Rs 200 figure. The last time the telcos moved the tariffs up was in late 2021. While there have been a few changes in the recent past such as the removal of the Rs 99 plan and making the Rs 155 plan as the base tariff, it isn't enough for the telco to reach the Rs 250 figure.
As per Mittal, Airtel reaching the ARPU figure of Rs 250-300 would be a good thing for the nation itself. He told the publication, "I would say, the sooner we get to an ARPU of Rs 250 and Rs 300, it will be better for the nation’s digital dream......The customer must also realise that I’ve got to pay a few rupees extra to get a very high-quality service, at by far the lowest tariff anywhere in the world”.
Read More - Airtel ARPU to Grow 7-10 Percent Even in Absence of Tariff Hike: Axis Capital
One thing is for sure, Airtel is going to hike tariffs the first among the private telcos. If the competitors follow, it will be good for Airtel, but if the competitors do not follow, then Airtel can also roll back the tariffs.
