Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi) are silently killing chep plans available in the market. The telecom operators recently removed their 1GB daily data plans for the customers. Jio still offers the Rs 209 plan in the affordable plans section. However, Jio and Airtel have removed the Rs 249 plan for the customers. Now, it has been also removed by Vodafone Idea (Vi). Vi has removed the plan from its website. The cheap plans are silently been killed by the telcos. Now the telcos are pushing users to recharge with higher priced plans if they want to consume data regularly.
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Note that there are still entry-level prepaid plans offered by all the private telecom operators which are under Rs 200. In fact, Vi also offers a prepaid plan under Rs 100 also. Jio still said that users can recharge with the Rs 249 plan, however, they will have to go to the store to do that. Jio stores are present throughout the nation.
Impact on Consumers and Telcos
For telcos, the impact of tariff hike is always sweet in the medium-to-long term. All the telcos see their average revenue per user (ARPU) and revenues go up. The margins improve and that has a positive effect on Ebitda (earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation). For the consumers, who were recharging with 1GB of daily data plans at the Rs 249 price point, they will now have to spend more and recharge with higher priced plans (around Rs 300).
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TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) doesn't mind the telcos removing the Rs 249 plan. This is because the telcos have the right to introduce new offers and withdraw them as per their will. It will be interesting to see how much the telcos will hike the base tariffs in the coming months and years.
