Airtel hints at mobile plan price hike as it eyes changes to low-cost unlimited data packs

If you're an Airtel customer, your mobile plan could become more expensive in the future. Bharti Airtel has indicated that it sees room to revise tariffs for lower-priced plans that offer unlimited data, suggesting the current pricing model is limiting revenue growth.

Speaking during the company's first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, Bharti Airtel Executive Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal said the issue is not simply about increasing tariffs but about changing the structure of mobile plans.

According to Vittal, offering unlimited data at very low price points caps the company's average revenue per user (ARPU), making the existing pricing model unsustainable.

He said mobile plans should follow a more balanced pricing structure with different categories, ranging from smaller plans to premium offerings, instead of providing unlimited data at the lowest prices.

While Airtel has not announced any immediate tariff revision, Vittal's remarks indicate that the company believes there is scope to increase prices for certain unlimited data plans in the future.

The comments came as Bharti Airtel reported a strong performance for the June quarter. The telecom operator posted a 37.3 per cent year-on-year increase in profit after tax to Rs 8,167 crore, supported by growth across its India and Africa businesses.

Revenue from operations rose 18.3 per cent to Rs 58,539 crore during the quarter, compared with Rs 49,462.6 crore in the same period last year.

Airtel India's average revenue per user (ARPU), a key measure of customer spending, increased to Rs 264 from Rs 250 a year ago, remaining the highest in the industry.

Apart from its India business, Airtel said it will continue increasing investments in Africa, where operations currently generate annualised operating profit of more than Rs 35,000 crore. Vittal said the Africa business is expected to contribute a larger share of the company's future growth.

The company also said it is expanding its data centre business. Airtel is acquiring land in Mumbai to build additional capacity and plans to develop a couple of 100-megawatt data centres over the next few years, with a significant focus on serving hyperscale customers.

For Airtel users, the key takeaway is that while no price hike has been announced yet, the company has clearly signalled that low-cost unlimited data plans could see changes as it pushes for what it calls a more "sensible" pricing structure.

With PTI inputs