Bharti Airtel raises postpaid tariffs

“One blinks, others follow within days.” That is Equirus Securities’ summarization of past tariff hikes taken by telecom operators over the last decade.

Equirus highlighted this while initiating coverage on the telecom companies back on September 28. This assumes greater significance now that Bharti Airtel has gone ahead and increased its postpaid tariff plans by ₹50 across the board.

Postpaid currently contributes between 8% to 12% of Bharti Airtel’s topline, according to industry estimates. The key question now comes to mind is, with Bharti having made the move, will both Jio and Vodafone Idea follow suit? Equirus analyses these past patterns.

The 2019 “Distress Call”

Calling it a move to “survive” and not “grow”, Equirus highlighted how Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea rolled out their precise plan details on December 1, 2019, and implementing those from December 3.

Three days later, Reliance Jio implemented its “All-in-One” plan.

Tariffs were raised between 20% to 40% and operators reworked their 28-day, 84-day and 365-day plans.

As a result of this tariff hike, Bharti Airtel’s Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) jumped from ₹135 in the third quarter of financial year 2020 to ₹166 in the third quarter of financial year 2021. Reliance Jio saw a similar jump from ₹128 to ₹151, while Vodafone Idea’s ARPU increased from ₹109 to ₹121 during the same timeframe.

Getting ARPUs To Sustainable Levels – The 2021 Move

Two years later, in November 2021, Bharti Airtel once again took the lead in announcing a 20% to 25% blanket increase across all prepaid plans, which took effect from November 26 that year. Vodafone Idea followed a day later, while Jio’s hike came six days later.

This hike, according to Equirus, was aimed at improving the operators’ ARPU to sustainable levels and to ensure that the sector did not turn into a duopoly.

As a result of this hike, Bharti Airtel’s ARPU improved from ₹163 in Q3 of financial year 2022 to ₹193 in the third quarter of financial year 2023. Jio saw an improvement from ₹152 to ₹178, while Vodafone Idea saw an improvement of ₹20 to ₹135 from ₹115 during the same timeframe.

Jio Takes The Lead – June 2024

After the conclusion of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and after the 5G rollout, Reliance Jio took the lead and announced a 12% to 27% increase across plans on June 27, 2024. This was followed by Bharti Airtel a day later, with a 10% to 21% increase, while Vodafone Idea raised tariffs by 11% to 24% two days after Jio’s move.

The hike was done to monetise the major 5G capex all of these companies had undertaken.

With this hike, Reliance Jio’s ARPU improved from ₹182 in Q1 FY25 to ₹206 in the fourth quarter, while Bharti Airtel’s ARPU improved to ₹245 from ₹211 and Vodafone Idea’s ARPU improved from ₹146 to ₹164 during the same timeframe.

The Road Ahead For Tariffs

With the massive 5G capital deployment cycle which is now peaking, according to Equirus, the industry requires another systemic pricing intervention to protect long-term returns.

“A major 10% to 20% tariff hike is anticipated to live in the second half of financial year 2027 based on our view, which combined with the progressive monetization of 5G packs, is expected to push Bharti Airtel’s ARPU above ₹300 by financial year 2028,” Equirus wrote in its note.

Jio is also in focus ahead of its upcoming IPO, with brokerage firm Motilal Oswal writing in its note that the Jio Platforms IPO could prove to be a re-rating trigger for both Reliance Industries as well as Bharti Airtel.

First Published: 

Oct 7, 2026 1:34 PM

IST