Bharti Airtel has already announced the launch of 5G services in over eight cities of the country. The only thing awaited now is the 5G tariffs. It would be interesting to see what 5G tariffs would be like, given the fact that consumers don't really need 5G desperately. As per industry sources, Airtel is looking at a marginal raise in 5G tariffs. Whether these plans will contain bundled services or not is something we don't know for now. Airtel might become the first company to launch 5G tariffs in the country, and thus that might set the trend for other telcos to structure their plans in Airtel's manner as well. For now, Airtel has said that customers can enjoy Airtel 5G Plus services in eight cities of India with their 4G plans only.
As per the sources, the exact pricing of the 5G tariffs is unclear right now. While it might not be too much, there's still no confirmation of what it would be structured like. The telco has already showcased what its 5G network in the C-band (3.5 GHz) network could do. We recently did a speed test on Airtel's 5G network; check it out by clicking/tapping here.
Airtel to Look at Tariff Hikes for Driving ARPU
5G plans are not going to be structured to drive the average revenue per user (ARPU) up. As per the industry sources, Airtel will be looking to drive ARPU up through 4G tariff hikes. It makes sense as if there are premium 5G plans and the uptake is slow, it wouldn't make any positive impact on the overall ARPU. Instead, the source tells us that Airtel would be looking to hike the tariffs in the near future for the 4G plans to boost ARPU.
For the quarter ending June 30, FY23, Airtel's ARPU stood at Rs 183, fairly short of the telco's short-term goal of Rs 200. The next round of tariff hikes should settle that. In the long run, Airtel wants to reach the ARPU level of Rs 300.
