Airtel’s ₹299 plan goes, but bigger telecom tariff hike may still be coming: Report

Bharti Airtel has made changes to several prepaid plans, effectively pushing some users towards costlier options.

Analysts, however, believe the move may not be the end of the telecom industry's price increases, with a broader tariff hike still expected later in 2026.

The company has discontinued its ₹299 prepaid plan, which offered 1GB of daily data for 28 days. It has also removed its ₹319, ₹579, ₹619 and ₹649 plans, covering different validity periods. With the ₹299 option no longer available, users looking for 1GB or more of daily data for 28 days are effectively pushed towards the ₹349 plan.

 

₹349 plan costs ₹50 more

The ₹349 plan offers 1.5GB of daily data and unlimited 5G for 28 days. For users who previously relied on the ₹299 plan, switching to ₹349 means paying ₹50 more, an increase of around 16.7%.

According to a Morgan Stanley note dated August 12, the revisions to the 1.5GB and 2GB daily data plans are likely to nudge users towards either shorter-duration plans that cost 20% more per day, or towards higher-data, longer-validity packs.

The brokerage called it “a focused attempt by Bharti Airtel towards higher monetisation while capitalising on customer preferences for higher data plans”, according to a research note seen by ETTelecom. It added that the changes could lift Airtel’s ARPU by ₹8-12 on a gross basis.

 

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Bigger tariff hike still expected

Analysts at IIFL Securities said Airtel's latest changes could be an early move ahead of another round of tariff increases expected around December 2026.

In a note dated August 12, it said, “For now, we are not assuming that this tariff tweak is over and above the December 2026 expected tariff hike. The incremental benefit from the current move will thus be limited to four months of FY27, implying a potential FY27 ARPU uptick of ₹4.”

 

Airtel's ARPU higher than rivals

ARPU, or average revenue per user, is an important measure of how much revenue telecom operators generate from each subscriber. At the end of the June quarter, Airtel's ARPU stood at ₹264 per month. Reliance Jio reported an ARPU of ₹215.8, while Vodafone Idea's stood at ₹177.

Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal had earlier said he hoped the company's ARPU would eventually reach ₹300, with a longer-term target of ₹350.

 

20-30% of Airtel users could be affected

Analysts estimate that around 20-30% of Airtel's Indian mobile subscribers were previously using plans priced below ₹349. Airtel had around 376.5 million mobile subscribers in India at the end of June.

JM Financial estimated that if just 10% of these customers moved to the ₹349 plan, Airtel's ARPU could rise by around 2%. The brokerage, however, said the latest changes should not be considered a full-scale tariff hike, but rather a strategy to encourage customers to upgrade to higher-value plans.

 

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Vodafone Idea faces a choice

Airtel’s move has put Vodafone Idea in the spotlight, with the cash-strapped operator now weighing whether to follow the changes or hold prices steady to gain market share.

IIFL Securities estimated that if 15% of Vodafone Idea's subscribers moved to higher-priced plans, its ARPU could increase by around ₹7-8, or roughly 4%.

The move could potentially raise the company's FY27 EBITDA by around 2% and increase its valuation by about 3%.

 

Jio and Vodafone Idea still have ₹299 plans

Airtel's changes also make its entry-level pricing different from those of its two major competitors.

Reliance Jio currently offers a ₹299 plan with 1.5GB of daily data for 28 days, while Vodafone Idea has a ₹299 plan offering 1GB of daily data for 28 days. However, price changes by one major telecom operator have historically been followed by similar moves from competitors.

 

Telecom operators have raised prices before

The latest move is not the first time telecom companies have quietly removed lower-priced plans. In August 2025, Reliance Jio removed its ₹249 daily-data plan from its online platforms, after which Airtel and Vodafone Idea also made similar changes.

The industry last carried out a major broad-based tariff increase in July 2024, when operators raised prices after more than two years. Reliance Jio led that round with increases ranging from 12% to 25% across its plans.

While Airtel's latest plan changes may increase revenue from some customers, analysts continue to expect a broader telecom tariff hike later this year.