Airtel updated prices: Rs 499 plan now available for Rs 698, Rs 998 plan for Rs 1,498

Bharti Airtel's newly revised tariff plans for prepaid mobile services went live from Tuesday, December 3, 2019. Vodafone Idea soon followed Airtel's steps and announced its updated prepaid plans. Reliance Jio also announced a hike and will declare details of its new tariffs on December 6, 2019.

The telco's price hike ranges from 40 per cent to a maximum of 50 per cent. The reason behind telecom companies hiking prices is that they are under huge financial stress, mainly due to the latest AGR ruling from the apex court that requires them to pay around Rs 94,000 crore to the government.

The new plan for Airtel's prepaid mobile services start from Rs 19 and goes up to Rs 2,398. The company offers benefits like --unlimited voice calling, bundled SMS messages and data allocation.

According to the company's statements, the price hike in the Airtel's prepaid plan ranges from 50 paise per day to Rs 2.85 per day. The new plans offer data and calling along with added benefits like -- Airtel Thanks, Airtel Xstream, Wynk Music, device protection, anti-virus protection and more.

Here's the list of Airtel's new prepaid plans:

Rs 248 prepaid plan: The company removed its earlier Rs 169 plan and Rs 199 plan and replaced them with Rs 248 plan. The new plan offers unlimited calling, 100 SMS per day and 1.5 GB data per day. Airtel also provides additional benefits such as Airtel Xstream, Wynk Music and Hello Tunes.

Rs 298 prepaid plan: Airtel's previous Rs 249 plan has now been hiked to Rs 298, with the same benefits -- unlimited calling, 100 SMS and 2 GB data per day along with added services like Airtel Xstream, Wynk Music and Hello Tunes.

Rs 598 prepaid plan: Airtel's earlier Rs 448 plan has been increased to Rs 598 plan. This new plan comes with unlimited calling, 100 SMS per day and 1.5 GB data per day with a validity period of 84 days. The validity of the plan has been increased from 82 days to 84 days.

Rs 698 prepaid plan: Airtel's old Rs 499 plan is now raised to Rs 698. The validity of the plan is 84 days and users can enjoy unlimited calling, 100 SMS per day, 2 GB data per day and added benefits such as Airtel Thanks, Airtel Xstream, Wynk Music and Hello Tunes.

Rs 1,498 prepaid plan: Airtel removed its older Rs 998 plan and has replaced it with a new Rs 1,498 plan. This new plan has features like unlimited calling, 3,600 SMS, 24 GB data along with a host of Airtel's added benefits. The Rs 1,498 plan has a validity period of 365 days.

Rs 2,398 prepaid plan: Airtel's earlier Rs 1,699 plan, which has now increased to Rs 2,398, provides the user with unlimited calling, 100 SMS per day, 1.5 GB data per day.

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