Bharti Airtel is likely to hike headline tariffs after the Lok Sabha elections, while Jio is planning to focus on strategies that will ensure increased data usage.
Airtel has reportedly been taking proactive steps to adjust tariffs across various plans to boost the average revenue per user (ARPU) to more than Rs 200 per month. Currently, the ARPU of Airtel at Rs 208 is higher than Vodafone Idea’s Rs 145 and Jio’s Rs 182.
According to media reports, with the IPL season already in, Jio may try to tempt users to go for higher-tier packages, which may lead to an increase in the company's ARPU.
If Airtel goes for a tariff hike, there are chances that Jio may see an influx of new customers, according to media reports.
Jio is planning to attract more people to JioFiber broadband plans and expects more people to opt for higher plans due to increased data consumption in 5G.
“With users moving to higher 5G packs, higher realisation from Fiber plans, and some churn from other operators, we expect ARPU to rise without going for a headline tariff hike," Financial Express quoted some of the executives as saying.
Meanwhile, brokerage firms like Bernstein have factored in tariff increases by telecom operators after general elections. “We expect tariff hikes to be announced post elections (July to October time frame). We expect a strong 15 per cent tariff hike. The tariff hike will be led by Bharti and that will see Arpu stabilising to Rs 260+ levels by FY26," Bernstein had said in a recent report.
