Bharti Airtel is soon expected to launch 5G network services in India. One of the biggest curiosities from a consumer standpoint is what the 5G plans would look like. Mostly, how would they be priced? It should definitely be priced more than 4G plans, but then how much? Considering 4G plans are soon going to get tariff hikes, will Airtel directly adjust the prices of 5G plans accordingly at the time of launch, or will 5G plans also get a hike at the end of the year? Well, there are a lot of ifs and buts; here's what Airtel said, though.
Talking to Mint, Akhil Gupta, vice-chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said anyone who has a 5G handset will get 5G, and they will consume more data and automatically go to a higher tariff plan. As per Gupta, it would contribute to higher revenues for the company.
5G Plans Aren't Going to be Super Premium
Gupta said that there's likely not going to be pure premium 5G. Instead, the higher-priced plans could deliver 5G services to consumers. This will help Airtel achieve its goal of higher average revenue per user (ARPU) very fast. At the end of Q1 Fy23, Airtel's ARPU stood at Rs 183. It is already the industry-leading ARPU, and with another tariff hike and higher-priced 5G plans, the Rs 200 mark will be very easy for the company to cross.
To give a boost to the revenues, Bharti Airtel would also look to bring 5G services to its enterprise clients. Airtel's pretty dominant in the B2B space compared to its competitors. The telco would like to sustain that position by offering strong enterprise 5G services as fast as possible. It's only a few days left before this month is over, so the 5G launch is not too far away now.
