Telcos reduce promotional offers, prune free minutes

The move by telecom operators to cut benefits on promotional offers was welcomed by brokerages and analysts. In a note Edelweiss noted this “will offset rising costs, although we do not expect headline tariffs to rise immediately”.

Market leader Bharti has reduced free minutes by 10 to 25 per cent and has increased price of payment vouchers in the range of Rs 5 to Rs 15. Idea Cellular is also believed to have withdrawn some of the promotional offers in various circles.

The current hike has been preceded by Airtel and Vodafone recently increasing 2G data tariffs by up to 30 per cent.

The roll back of benefits comes two months after a 2G auction in November which took out seven out of nine new players in the sector with only Videocon and Telewings, a unit of Telenor, staying in the fray. The companies will soon face another auction due in March to buy unsold spectrum in the costly circles of Mumbai, Delhi and Karnataka.

“The tariff war in the industry was started by non-serious players, who were here not for long-term, and their moving out will make the tariffs much more realistic and in accordance with the costs. Surely, a rise in tariff will help our bottomline,” said an industry insider. In the last one year the Edelweiss

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