Bharti Airtel may increase its headline tariffs after the Lok Sabha elections, which will start next month and end in June. Currently, Airtel's tariffs are at a premium compared to Jio. With the hike in the tariff, the gap in charges between the two will rise, the Financial Express reported.
As market analysts, Jio might be at an advantageous position in comparison to Airtel. Jio is the fastest growing network in the home broadband segment at 37.6% y-o-y. Analysts quoted in the report said that Airtel is at a different spot. It has already implemented possible tariff adjustments in various plans to take its average revenue per user (Arpu) beyond Rs 200 per month. Now it has no option but to go for headline tariff hike if it wants its Arpu to rise further. Currently, Airtel has industry leading Arpu of Rs 208, compared to Jio’s Rs 182 and Vodafone Idea’s Rs145.
Jio is hopeful that there will be significant rise in data consumption due to the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), which started last week. It is hopeful that there will be a churn from Airtel. As per the report, “Executives said that since data consumption is higher in 5G packs, users move on to higher plans for better viewing experience.”
Jio is also trying to increase the take up of its JioFiber broadband plans by bundling it with different services. Jio officials said: “With users moving to higher 5G packs, higher realisation from Fiber plans, and some churn from other operators, we expect Arpu to rise without going for a headline tariff hike."
Brokerages feel that Airtel will take the lead in this regard. Bernstein said: “We expect tariff hikes to be announced post elections (July to October time frame). We expect a strong 15% tariff hike. The tariff hike will be led by Bharti and that will see Arpu stabilising to Rs260+ levels by FY26."
It added, “We expect further consolidation of the market by 2026 with revenue share of Jio at 48% and Bharti at 40%. Jio subscriber share is expected to reach 47% while Bharti share should reach 36%.”
In the Q3 FY24, mobile revenue growth has been steady across telcos. Jio's standalone revenues were up 3% q-o-q, primarily driven by strong subscriber additions. Bharti revenues were also up 3% q-o-q, while Vodafone Idea's revenue growth was flat.
On Friday, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) announced a host of discounts, tariff changes, and additional data offerings for prepaid users for the Indian Premier League 2024 season, which began on Friday.
While Airtel is targeting the lower end of the market by revising its existing unlimited data pack plans of Rs 49 and Rs 99, Vi has announced discounts and data offerings across different pricing tiers.
For all prepaid customers, Airtel has cut the price of its existing unlimited data pack plans of Rs 49 to Rs 29, while the Rs 99 pack will now cost Rs 79. Both will have a fair use policy-based data usage limit of 20 GB/day. Airtel Digital TV has also partnered with StarSports to broadcast the IPL.
Vi is providing additional data on select prepaid recharge plans going up to Rs 3199. The telco is offering 50 per cent extra daily data on the Rs 181 pack and 25 per cent more data on the Rs 75 pack, up to a limit of 1.5 GB/day.
It has slashed the price of several prepaid plans by announcing flat Rs 50-100 discounts on plans ranging from Rs 699 to Rs 3,199, for the duration of the IPL season. Offered exclusively through the Vi app, the offers will run till April 1, 2024, the company said.