Bharti hikes tariff for two pre-paid packs

Bharti hikes tariff for two pre-paid packs

Bharti Airtel on Friday announced a 20 per cent increase in tariffs of its popular Advantage and Freedom pre-paid packs, a move that has drawn sharp reactions from consumer rights groups like Telecom Watchdog.

Users of Bharti Airtel's Advantage pack, based on per minute billing, will now have to pay 60 paise instead of 50 paise per minute for local and STD calls and 90 paise for calls to landlines. Similarly, Re.1 and Rs.1.50 will be charged for local and national SMS. Existing users will have to pay for new rates after the validity of their existing voucher ends. The users of per second billing pack Freedom will be charged 1.20 paise for local and STD calls on mobile.

The new tariff structure has been announced for Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh telecom circles. However, Airtel has not changed the tariff of rack rates, which means customers not opting for the two mentioned packages will have to pay the old rates of Re.1 for local and Rs.1.50 for STD calls.

“Telecom is probably the only industry where despite increasing inflation, tariffs have been falling unabatedly. Continuously declining margins, high 3G and BWA auction prices, constrained spectrum and rural roll out aspirations leave us with little choice but to make some price corrections,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

Expressing shock over the development, Telecom Watchdog said it had forwarded a complaint against the “unjustified” tariff hike to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as it would lead to cartelisation with other private players.

Accusing Bharti Airtel of passing on the financial burden of its Africa operations to Indian customers, it said: “This hike is not acceptable… TRAI should come forward and reverse the hike. The acquisition and expansions in South Africa by Bharti Airtel cannot be funded at the expense of Indian consumers. The company's profitability is more than the desired level in the telecom sector,” it added.