Bharti Airtel has removed several popular prepaid recharge plans from its portfolio, making some customers pay more for similar benefits and signalling a broader shift in how India’s telecom companies may approach pricing.
The biggest change is the withdrawal of the ₹299 prepaid plan, which had become one of Airtel’s widely used options. Customers looking for a comparable 28-day plan will now have to consider the ₹349 pack, effectively raising the monthly recharge cost by about 16%. The ₹349 plan, however, also offers higher data benefits, with 2GB per day compared with 1.5GB per day under the earlier ₹299 plan.
Airtel has also discontinued prepaid packs priced at ₹579, ₹619 and ₹649, according to the latest reports. Moneycontrol separately reported the removal of the ₹319 30-day plan as part of the same pricing rationalisation. The changes have been made across India and affect selected prepaid categories rather than representing a blanket increase across all Airtel tariffs.
For Airtel users, the immediate impact is straightforward: some of the familiar price points are no longer available. Customers who previously relied on the ₹299 plan now face a higher entry cost if they want a similar daily-data package.
At the same time, Airtel has retained lower-priced options. The ₹199 plan remains available with 2GB of data for 28 days, while the ₹219 plan offers 3GB of data for the same validity period, according to the latest plan information reported by India Today. This means consumers still have cheaper alternatives, although the choice of plans between the lower and higher price bands has narrowed.
The move is important not only for Airtel customers but also for investors because it directly relates to average revenue per user (ARPU), a key performance measure for telecom companies.
JM Financial estimates that Airtel’s wireless ARPU could rise by around 2% following the plan changes. The brokerage assumes that roughly 10% of Airtel subscribers could move to plans that cost about ₹50 more. Such a shift, it said, could result in a 2% increase in wireless ARPU and around a 1% improvement in India EBITDA and valuation.
The calculation illustrates why telecom operators are increasingly looking beyond simple, across-the-board tariff hikes. Instead of raising prices on every plan, Airtel is removing selected lower-priced or overlapping options and encouraging customers to move towards plans offering greater data allowances.
This strategy is closely linked to Airtel’s long-standing argument that telecom pricing needs to improve to support investments in networks, including 5G infrastructure.
Airtel Executive Vice-Chairman Gopal Vittal had raised the issue during the company’s Q1FY27 earnings call last month. He argued that the industry needs to “repair” its pricing architecture because very large data allowances at low prices can restrict ARPU growth. The company has been advocating a model in which customers consuming more data pay more rather than relying only on broad-based tariff increases.
The latest move comes at a time when telecom ARPU in India is already moving higher. Airtel’s mobile ARPU rose 2.7% sequentially to ₹264 in the June quarter from ₹257 in the previous quarter. Reliance Jio’s ARPU increased marginally to ₹215.6 from ₹214, while Vodafone Idea’s ARPU rose to ₹177 from ₹174.
The numbers show why higher monetisation has become a priority for all three private telecom operators. The sector requires sustained investment in network expansion, spectrum and 5G services, while operators are also seeking stronger financial returns.
JM Financial believes Airtel’s move could encourage other telecom companies to follow with similar selective changes. While competitors had not made comparable changes at the time of the brokerage’s assessment, the strategy could spread if operators find that consumers continue to accept higher-priced plans without significant subscriber losses.
However, the latest changes should not necessarily be interpreted as the beginning of an immediate industry-wide tariff hike. Analysts expect a broader telecom tariff increase to take longer. Moneycontrol reported that a larger headline tariff revision could come around March-April 2027, while selective plan changes could continue before then.
JM Financial has retained a ‘Buy’ rating on Bharti Airtel with a target price of ₹2,400 per share, compared with the previous close of ₹1,945 cited in its latest assessment. The brokerage expects industry wireless ARPU to grow at a 12% compound annual growth rate between FY26 and FY29, supported by tariff increases and premiumisation.
