Reliance Jio vs Airtel: New prepaid, postpaid plans, prices compared after tariff hike

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have hiked the tariffs of their plans in the span of 24 hours.  Two of India’s biggest telecom carriers have made a significant price hike which impacts the cost-sensitive market. Reliance Jio and Airtel have increased the prices of their plans by up to Rs 600. The new hike impacts pre-paid plans as well as postpaid and data add-on plans. The new plans will come into effect from July 3. 

Airtel in an announcement on Friday claimed that the company has been requesting for a price revision. The telco claims this new price hike will allow them to invest more in technologies that will enhance quality and coverage. 

Considering that plans will come into effect from July 3, many prepaid users are buying new data packs well ahead of the expiration of their current plan. However, Jio has removed two popular plans priced at Rs 395 (84 days validity) and Rs 1559 (336 days) which offered 'Truly Unlimited 5G' which allowed users to get unlimited 5G data without any cap.   

The following is the price comparison of various plans after the tariffs have been hiked:   

Consumers reacted to the price hike online, expressing their discontent. However, telcos have complained in the past that the prices need revision in order to sustain a healthy profit margin and better telecommunication infrastructure. Many users are also opting to recharge before July 3, using annual plans, to dampen the impact of the price hike.