NEW DELHI: Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular, are understood to have increased prepaid tariffs by up to 20%, in line with the recent Bharti Airtel move. According to industry sources, the tariffs were increased few days ago.
When contacted Vodafoane spokesperson declined to comment saying, “We do not comment on tariff issues.” Idea officials said the company is in the silent period due to pending quarterly financial results and did not offer any comment. Vodafone and Idea are pan India operators and have hiked pre-paid tariffs in certain circles. The details of new tariff could not be obtained.
Last week, Bharti Airtel, the largest telecom operator by subscriber base, had raised rates for pre-paid users by 20 per cent for certain packages across several circles. It had cited declining margins and high 3G and BWA auction prices as reasons for the hike.
“Telecom is probably the only industry where, despite increasing inflation, tariffs have been falling unabated. 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,” it had said.