Bharti Airtel ARPU Rise Sets Good Precedent for the Industry

Moves That Led to Airtel’s High ARPU

This is the peculiar thing about the two telecom companies, Reliance Jio boasts of having more than 400 million subscribers, but still, it has fewer active subscribers than Bharti Airtel. Most of the subscribers of Reliance Jio have come from the JioPhone category indicating that they have a higher tendency of paying less with the more affordable plans and might also go bust from the network. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel has made a stride on the opposite end of the spectrum by removing its low-paying prepaid plan of Rs 49 and starting its portfolio from Rs 79. Not only this, the corporate plans of Bharti Airtel now start at Rs 299, which is a solid Rs 100 above the previous figure.

Bharti Airtel’s Bold Moves Pay Off

After making these changes, Bharti Airtel has certainly noticed a small churn in subscriber count, but even then, it retains the top active subscriber position. Most noteworthy of all, the telecom company has a lead in ARPU, which remains the most sought-after figure in the industry and the teller of the financial health of the telecom companies. The steps taken by Bharti Airtel surely indicate a step in the progressive direction. Since a unilateral tariff hike is feared in the industry, in such an environment, Bharti Airtel’s move comes as a bold step, and its success sets a good precedent for others to follow, that a slight increase in tariff or the removal of low paying plans will lead to increase in the ARPU and hence in the overall finances of the company. These are the kind of steps that ailing telcos like Vodafone Idea can resort to in the end.