Bharti & Idea take the call to ring in change in tariffs

A A

fe Bureau: New Delhi, Jan 24 2013, 01:43 IST

The country’s top two mobile operators, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular, on Wednesday began a calibrated approach towards raising tariffs for voice calls in the prepaid segment, which accounts for more than 85% of their revenues. Both companies said that while the headline tariff — the pulse/second rate — has not been increased, some promotional offers, discounts and free minutes have been withdrawn in some schemes in some circles. By doing this the operators would be able to increase their realisable rates. Simply put, what the operators have broadly done is while not raising the price of prepaid vouchers, they have either reduced the talk-time on them or decreased the validity period.

Explaining the strategy and the rationale behind the hike, Hemant Joshi, partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, said: “Price hikes may be gradual. Let’s assume an operator is generating 1 billion minutes per day. An increase of 1 paisa per minute would increase annual revenue by R360 crore and an increase by 2 paise would increase annual revenue by R720 crore. Being a volume game, small increases can benefit the sector.”

“There is no change in the headline tariff. In most circles we have reduced promotional benefits and free minutes on both acquisition and existing usage,” a Bharti Airtel statement said.

“We are committed to enhance value for our customers through continued investments in network, technology, customer experience and life enriching services,” the statement said.

Idea Cellular did not issue any statement but the company confirmed withdrawing certain promotional discount schemes for new

... contd.

Ads by Google

Single Page Format

1 | 2 | 3 | Next

Sensex gains 45 points to end above 20K-mark, Bharti up, HUL down Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular raise mobile phone ratesTelcos reduce promotional offers, prune free minutes Reliance Comm net falls 43% as costs pile up

Previous Story Instability after ’14 polls biggest threat: FM Next Story FDI inflows slumped to 2-year low in Nov 2012

Reader's Comments| Post a Comment

Be the first to comment.