Mobile Data Prices Increase — Time to Pay for Voice Calls Again

All three telecom operators in India have decided to hike prices of prepaid plans for mobile users from this month

The new prepaid plans will cost more but you get the same benefits.

(Photo: iStock)

Right on cue, Indian telecom operators have hiked mobile data and voice call charges for consumer, which will come into effect from later this week.

Both Vodafone Idea Limited and Airtel have shared details of the new plans for their prepaid users, while Jio has just mentioned that “its plans will be priced up to 40 percent higher but providing 300 percent more benefits.”

With majority of mobile users in India subscribing to prepaid plans, the price hike has been confined to this segment for now. Postpaid users could bear a similar hike in the near future.

To get a better idea of how much users on these network will gave to pay for their mobile bills from this month onwards, here’s a detailed telco-wise look at the changes announced.

Airtel

Airtel’s new prepaid plan charges come into effect from 3 December onwards. The telco claims with these changes, users will be paying a tariff increase of 50 paise per day to Rs 2.85 per day.

In addition to this, users making voice calls to other network from Airtel will get free calling benefits for up to 1000 minutes on 28-day unlimited plans. If you’re on longer validity plan, you get up to 3000 minutes of free calling time, and for the annual plan customers, this benefit goes up to 12000 minutes.

(Photo: Canva/The Quint)

Once you’ve exhausted the free voice calling minutes, telcos will charge calls made to other network at 6 paise/minute.

As you can see through this table, there has been a consistent month-to-month increase in tariffs, with customers required to pay between Rs 50 and Rs 700 more for the same benefits. The annual plan worth Rs 1,699 now costs Rs 2,398.

Vodafone Idea Limited

Vodafone prepaid users will also be paying more for their plans, and the new tariffs come into effect from 3 December onwards as well.

(Photo: Canva/The Quint)

Looking at Vodafone’s revised plans, it has also structured it with up to 50 percent increase in monthly plans, that goes as high as Rs 600 for its highest annual plan.

Reliance Jio

And finally, you have Reliance Jio. Even though Jio doesn’t support voice calls through traditional standard like its rivals, the telco has also decided it’s time to increase its data prices.

However, the company, unlike Airtel and Vodafone Idea, will offer the new revised prices and share details later this week, as it comes into effect from 6 December but it did mention the increase will be up to 40 percent. This means, Jio will continue to offer its data plans at marginally cheaper rates than its competition.

We’ll update this post with more details later this week as and when Jio shares its new prepaid plans.