Airtel to Hike Entry Level Tariffs Across All Telecom Circles

Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telecom operator, has hiked the entry-level tariffs in 17 out of 22 telecom circles in India. Initially, the tariff hike happened in two circles, from Rs 99 to Rs 155 in Odisha and Haryana in November 2022. This tariff hike by Bharti Airtel in two circles is followed by the revision of entry-level tariffs in seven more circles – Bihar, HP, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Northeast, and UP-West. Telecom circles – Delhi, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh-east, West Bengal, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and Assam – followed the tariff hike a day later, taking the count of circles in which Airtel Hiked the entry-level tariffs to more than fifteen.

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Also Read: 5G Backhaul Fiberisation to Cost Rs 3 Lakh Crore for Telcos: ICRA

Timing of Tariff Hike

This correction of tariff comes at a time when Indian Telcos are rolling out 5G networks at a faster pace to set a Global benchmark, and at the same time, the Industry’s debt level continue to be high. One private telco is struggling to pay Network Vendors and is still looking for loans to fund and meet operational expenses while simultaneously losing subscribers month on month. India currently has around 35% of its towers fiberised, and ICRA expects that the CAPEX required to fiberise the number of towers needed to provide a full-scale 5G Network experience would be close to Rs 3 lakh crore over the next 4-5 years. It looks highly challenging to deploy the kind of infrastructure required for proper 5G Networks without any significant Tariff revisions.