After Voda-Idea, Airtel to hike prepaid call and data tariffs up to 42% from 3rd December

Bharti Airtel Sunday announced a hike in its pre-paid call and data services from December 3, it said in an official statement on Sunday. The telecom operator's announcement comes after Vodafone-Idea also said that it will raise the mobile calls and data charges by around 20% across its pre-paid services from December 3

"Bharti Airtel today announced its revised tariff plans for its mobile customers. These tariffs will be applicable from Tuesday, December 3, 2019," the company said in a statement.

The telco added that it has raised the tariffs in the range of 50 paise per day to Rs 2.85 per day. "Airtel's new plans, represent tariff increases in the range of a mere 50 paise per day to Rs 2.85 per day and offer generous data and calling benefits," it added.

Also Read: Airtel, Vodafone Idea, MTNL stocks fall as DoT pressure to pay up AGR dues mounts

The telecom operator announced new plans which will cost up to 42% more compared to the price that Airtel pre-paid customers pay at present for plans in the "unlimited" category.

Airtel's bundled plans providing unlimited calling and data services that came at Rs 249 (28 days validity) and Rs 448 (82 days validity) will now cost the customers Rs 298 and Rs 598 (84 days validity) respectively.

In addition, Airtel said that it will provide exclusive benefits as part of the Airtel Thanks platform, which enables access to premium content from Airtel Xstream -- comprising 10,000 movies, exclusive shows, and 400 TV channels, Wynk Music, device protection, anti-virus protection and much more.

Also Read: Why Bharti Airtel shares rose over 5% despite posting record loss in Q2

The telecom operator's announcement comes following the Supreme Court's (SC) ruling on adjusted gross revenue (AGR). Airtel took a staggering hit of Rs 23,045 loss in Q2 loss ending September 30 due to provisioning of Rs 28,450 crore in the aftermath of the SC's judgement.

The Supreme Court in October had upheld the government's position on including revenue from non-telecommunication businesses in calculating the annual AGR of telecom companies, a share of which is paid as licence and spectrum fee to the exchequer. Old telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea took the maximum hit on the payment of statutory dues to the government.

Also Read: Are you a Vodafone-Idea customer? Get ready to pay more for mobile call, data services from December 3