Vodafone Idea has increased tariffs for prepaid users by 25 per cent starting 25 November. The lowest plan available on the operator’s network will now be priced at ₹99 instead of ₹79 earlier. The top-end plan of ₹2,399 will be priced at ₹2,899.
“The new plans will start the process of average revenue per user improvement and help address the financial stress faced by the industry,” the operator said. On Monday, Airtel had announced a similar tariff hike for its customers as telecom companies look to ramp up revenues.
Reliance Jio, now remains the sole telco to increase its tariffs and is being closely watched by analysts. The high price point of the recently launched JioPhone Next (link) could limit its traction and also be interpreted as a sign of Jio toning down its pricing aggression, according to analysts. “which once again suggests the company too may follow through with some hikes. We will keenly monitor developments on this front”, a report by Citi Research said on Monday. Analysts, however, believe that Jio will continue to be priced much lower than the other two operators, in order to keep an upper hand in the tariff war between the three telcos. “The quantum of the hike from Jio will be a key thing to watch out for as we assume it to maintain a similar level of discount to Bharti as earlier,” said Tarun Lakhotia, Director, Kotak Institutional Equities.
“Indian telcos have among the lowest ARPU in the world and subdued return on capital employed (RoCE), despite having the secondhighest average data traffic per user. An adverse triad of high capex, low ARPU and sizeable adjusted gross revenue liabilities have resulted in the sector’s RoCE sliding to 3 per cent last fiscal, from 8 per cent in fiscal 2016” said Nitesh Jain, Director and Rakshit Kachhal, Associate Director, Crisil Ratings Limited. They added that in a scenario where all three telcos raise their tariffs, the industry is looking at an ARPU increase of 15-20 per cent, and a RoCE increase to 7 per cent.
Vi’s New Prepaid Tariffs:
|
Current Price (Rs) 
|
Validity |
New Price (Rs) 
|
Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Tariffed Voice Plan 
|
|||
|
79 |
28 Days |
99 |
99 worth Talktime + 200 MB + 1p/sec Voice Tariff |
|
Unlimited Voice Bundles |
|||
|
149 |
28 Days |
179 |
Unlimited Calling, 300 SMS, 2GB Data |
|
219 |
28 Days |
269 |
Unlimited Calling, 100 SMS/Day, 1GB/day Data |
|
249 |
28 Days |
299 |
Unlimited Calling, 100 SMS/Day, 1.5GB/day Data |
|
299 |
28 Days |
359 |
Unlimited Calling, 100 SMS/Day, 2 GB/day Data |
|
399 |
56 Days |
479 |
Unlimited Calling, 100 SMS/Day, 1.5GB/day Data |
|
449 |
56 Days |
539 |
Unlimited Calling, 100 SMS/Day, 2GB/day Data |
|
379 |
84 Days |
459 |
Unlimited Calling, 1000 SMS, 6GB Data |
|
599 |
84 Days |
719 |
Unlimited Calling, 100 SMS/Day, 1.5GB/day Data |
|
699 |
84 Days |
839 |
Unlimited Calling, 100 SMS/Day, 2 GB/day Data |
|
1499 |
365 Days |
1799 |
Unlimited Calling, 3600 SMS, 24 GB Data |
|
2399 |
365 Days |
2899 |
Unlimited Calling, 100 SMS/Day, 1.5GB/day Data |
|
Data Top ups |
|||
|
48 |
28 Days |
58 |
3 GB Data |
|
98 |
28 Days |
118 |
12 GB Data |
|
251 |
28 Days |
298 |
50 GB Data |
|
351 |
56 Days |
418 |
100 GB Data |
