After years of slashing prices to undercut competition, Indian telecom companies have finally hiked tariffs. Out of the three private players, Airtel and Vodafone Idea have already announced their new tariff plans, and Reliance Jio will declare its new rates on December 6. This price hike is meant to stabilise the cash-deprived telecom sector, which is looking at a Rs 93,000-crore payout to Department of Telecommunications, and huge capital expenditure for 5G rollout.
Vodafone Idea, the first telco to announce tariff hikes last month, has announced a maximum increase of 50 per cent in its tariff. Airtel's new plans will cost up to 42 per cent more for its prepaid customers. Reliance Jio has said that its new all-in-one plans will be priced 40 per cent higher than the existing ones, but its subscribers will get "up to 300 per cent" more benefits.
Here's a look at the cheapest and costliest plans that the telecom companies are offering after the price hike:
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Airtel
Being an Airtel subscriber, the cheapest monthly plan you can opt for is worth Rs 49. The plan comes with talktime worth Rs 38.52 and 100 MB of data for a validity period of 28 days.
The costliest among the revised plans is worth Rs 2,398 which offers validity of 365 days. The plan offers unlimited calling, with an FUP (Fair Usage Policy) limit on calls to other networks. The plan offers 1.5GB of data and 100 SMS per day. The plan also comes with subscription for Airtel Xstream Premium and Wynk Music, free Hello Tunes and anti-virus mobile protection.
Airtel is also offering a two-day plan worth Rs 19 with unlimited calling, 100 SMS and 150MB of data. The new tariff plans will come into effect from December 3.
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Vodafone Idea
The cheapest monthly plan Vodafone Idea subscribers can choose after the price hike is the Rs 49 plan. This plan comes with talktime worth Rs 38, 100MB of data and 28 days of validity. Calls on this plan will be charged at 2.5 paise per second.
Meanwhile, the costliest plan on the list is unlimited annual pack worth Rs 2,399. The plan offers unlimited voice calls with an FUP limit of 12,000 minutes for off-net calls. Calls will be charged at 6 paise per minute once the FUP limit is exhausted. The plan comes with a 365-day validity. The plan offers 1.5 GB of data and 100 SMS every day.
There is also an unlimited sachet plan worth Rs 19 which comes with a validity of 2 days, unlimited on-net voice calls, 150 MB of data and 100 SMS. All new plans will become effective from December 3.
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Reliance Jio
The cheapest plan Reliance Jio rolled out among its new All-in-One plans is worth Rs 129 with a validity of 28 days. The pack offers 2GB of 4G data for the period of validity along with unlimited Jio-to-Jio voice calls. For calls to external networks, Jio is offering FUP limit of 1,000 minutes, post which IUC charges of 6 paise per minute will apply.
The costliest plan among the bunch has been priced at Rs 2,199 which offers validity of 365 days. This plan offers 1.5GB data per day with 12,000 minutes for off-net voice calls. Jio-to-Jio are once again free with this plan.
There is also a standard monthly Rs 199 plan with a validity of 28 days which offers data benefits of 1.5GB per day. Like the Rs 129 plan, the Rs 199 plan also offers 1,000 minutes for off-net voice calls, and unlimited Jio-to-Jio voice calls.
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