Telecom tariffs in India are back in spotlight with analysts expecting a broad-based increase in the coming months after a two-year pause. Recent stealth price hikes by the country’s two leading telecom operators have fuelled anticipation of a 10-15 percent industry-wide increase. If Bharti Airtel removed its select entry-level prepaid plans with 28-to-60-day validity, effectively raising the price of some of its lower-end offerings earlier this month, Reliance Jio followed suit with a similar move. While it retained its entry-level data plan intact, it reintroduced Jio Prime membership at a one-time fee of ₹300. This price protection guarantee till September 2027, in a way, signals that a hike is likely in the next six months, according to brokerage Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Another factor prompting speculation over higher tariffs is that price hikes in India often follow a 2-3 year cycle and the last such increase occurred in July 2024.
Raised rates in the past have led to higher average per-user revenues of about ₹15-20 a month even though operators lose subscribers. Data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India shows that the three leading operators—Jio, Airtel and Vodafone—together shed 23.14 million subscribers between June and September of 2024 following the last round of hikes. Indian customers are now moving away from being price-sensitive to value-sensitive decisions, while operators are shifting focus from infrastructure rollouts to revenue generation. This is essential given that India is the world’s second-largest telecom market by subscriber base. Of the total 1.348 billion connections, the broadband subscriber base alone surged past 1.08 billion owing to rising smartphone use, affordable tariffs and growing demand for high-speed connectivity in both urban and rural areas.
Even though teledensity stood at over 90 percent, expanding connectivity and improving service quality in rural and remote areas remain a challenge. Call drops continue to be a major problem, with operators facing intense pressure to improve network reliability and deliver uninterrupted data services. At the same time, adoption of next-generation technologies such as internet-of-things and Cloud-based communications has increased cybersecurity risks. All of this means telecom companies must strengthen network security and safeguard customer data at all costs. While evolving licensing requirements and data privacy laws create additional compliance obligations, balancing regulatory compliance alongside network expansion and improving service quality remains the need of the hour.