Airtel, Vodafone Idea raise call and data charges by up to 42 per cent

Airtel joins Vodafone Idea in hiking tariffs, Jio may follow soon

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Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Sunday said it will raise call and data plan charges for pre-paid customers from December 3, becoming the second operator after Vodafone Idea to announce an increase in its tariffs.

"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 company too announced new plans which will cost up to 42 per cent more compared to the price that Airtel pre-paid customers pay at present for plans in the "unlimited" category.

"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," the statement said.

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.

Vodafone Idea had also announced a hike in tariffs on Sunday, their first mobile tariff hike in four years. Under the new plans, call and data charges will be dearer for its pre-paid customers by up to 42 per cent from December 3.

Besides this, Vodafone Idea will also charge 6 paise per minute for every outgoing call made by customers on to the network of other operators.

"Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL), India's leading telecom service provider, today announced new tariffs/plans for its prepaid products and services. New plans will be available across India starting 00:00 hours of 3 December 2019," the company said in a statement.

Tariffs hikes are also expected from Reliance Jio.