Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone-Idea have announced hikes on the regular tariff plans. The new plans come into effect for Airtel and Vodafone customers starting December 3, while Jio customers still have the chance to continue using the existing tariffs until December 6.
Both Airtel and Vodafone registered record quarterly loss at Rs 50,921 crore and Rs 28,450 crores, respectively, during the third quarter. And the revised tariff plans are a way for the telecom operators to ensure sustainability in the Indian market.
Since the commercial roll-out of Jio, Reliance has been single-handedly dominating the telecom space with its aggressively priced plans that pushed leading telcos to lower the prices of their tariff plans to one-up Jio. However, that didn't happen, and the companies are now in massive dues as Jio races close to 500 million subscriber base.
Reliance Jio revised tariff plans
Reliance Jio revealed its new All-in-One Tariff plans that the company earlier stated would provide "up to 300% more benefits" than other telcos. The company is offering its tariff plans with a validity of a month, 2-months, 3-months or 12-months. The new tariff plans will be effective starting from December 6.
The new All-in-One plans start from Rs 199 which offers 1.5GB data per day with 1000 minutes off-net calls (Jio to non-Jio) and is valid for 28 days. Earlier, this plan was priced at Rs 149.
The Rs 249 plan offers 2GB data/day with 1000 minutes off-net calls and a validity of 28 days, while the Rs 349 plan gives 3GB data per day and has the same FUP for non-Jio calls.
Jio is also offering two 2-month tariff plans starting at Rs 399 for 1.5GB data per day, 2000 minutes of off-net calls and a validity of 56 days. Previously, the same data and validity benefits were offered for Rs 333. Next, there's a tariff plan of Rs 444 which gives 2GB data per day to users with the same FUP on off-net calls and 56 days validity.
Jio's quarterly plans start from Rs 555 and offers 1.5GB data per day with 3000 minutes of off-net calls and 84 days validity. Before the hike, Jio offered a plan priced at Rs 444 with 2 GB data per day and 1000 minutes of off-net calls with the same validity.
The second plan with a validity of 84 days is priced at Rs 599 and offers 2GB data per day with 3000 minutes worth of off-net calls.
Jio also has an annual plan worth Rs 2,199 which provides 1.5GB data/day to users with 12000 minutes of off-net calls and validity of 365 days. Previously, the company's annual tariff plan was priced at Rs 1,776 and offered 2GB data per day with 4000 minutes of off-net calls and validity of 336 days.
While Jio has hiked its tariff prices, it is still a bit more affordable than the new Airtel and Vodafone plans. The revised Jio plans are priced 15-25% less than those of Airtel and Vodafone-Idea.
Additionally, with Jio, users get access to a complimentary suite of entertainment, storage and security apps such as JioTV, JioCinema, JioNews, JioCloud and more.
Airtel revised tariff plans
Airtel has released its revised tariff plans that will be applicable to users from December 3 across India. Moreover, the new plans come with additional Airtel Thanks benefits for customers.
Airtel's base tariffs start from Rs 19 with unlimited calling, 100 SMS and 150MB data. This plan remains unchanged and has been continued from the previous list of plans.
Moving on to Rs 49 plan, users will get a talk time of Rs 38.52 and 100MB data with a validity of 28 days. While the telecom operator cleverly lists the price increase per day as a minuscule 50 paise, this same plan was priced at Rs 35 earlier which is Rs 14 cheaper than the revised plan.
Similarly, Rs 65 plan that offered benefits worth Rs 130 talk time and 200 MB data for 28 days has been increased to Rs 79 and now comes with a talk time of Rs 63.95.
The Rs 129 plan which offered unlimited calls, 300 SMS and 2GB data with Airtel Xstream, Wynk, and Hello Tunes benefits has been revised to Rs 148 with a validity of 28 days.
Airtel has combined its Rs 169 and Rs 199 plans into a single Rs 248 plan with unlimited calls, 100 SMS and 1.5GB data per day. The company is also offering Airtel Xstream Premium, Wynk Music Subscription, Hello Tunes access, and Anti-virus protection as a part of Airtel Thanks benefits.
Airtel's Rs 249 plan which offered unlimited calls with 100 SMS and 2GB data/day has been revised to Rs 298 with Airtel Thanks benefits.
The Rs 448 plan with unlimited calls, 100 SMS and 1.5GB data per day has been increased to Rs 598 with a validity of 84 days and additional benefits. Likewise, the previous Rs 499 plan with unlimited calls, 100 SMS and 2 GB data per day has been revised to Rs 698 and now comes with Airtel Thanks benefits.
The annual plan of Rs 998 that offered unlimited calls, 3600 SMS and 12GB data has been revised to Rs 1498 with 24GB data and additional benefits. Similarly, the Rs 1,699 annual plan that offered unlimited calls, 100 SMS/day and 1.5GB data per day will now cost Rs 2,398 with a validity of 365 days.
Vodafone-Idea revised tariff plans
Following suit, Vodafone-Idea has also increased the prices of its existing tariff plans along with combo vouchers. Unlike Airtel, Vodafone-Idea doesn't offer additional benefits with its revised tariff plans.
The unlimited packs with a validity of 28 days and unlimited voice calls start at Rs 149 with 2GB data and 300 SMS, followed by Rs 249 plan, which offers 1.5GB data/day and 100 SMS per day. The plans which offer 2GB and 3GB data per day are priced at Rs 299 and Rs 399, respectively.
Vodafone's unlimited plans with 84 days validity and unlimited calling start at Rs 379 for 6GB data and 1000 SMS followed by Rs 599 plan, which offers 1.5GB data per day and Rs 699 plan giving 2GB data per day along with 100 SMS/day.
With the revised plans, Vodafone is offering two annual packs with 365 days validity. The first one is priced at Rs 1,499 and offers unlimited calls with 24GB data and 3,600 SMS followed by Rs 2,399 plan that gives 1.5GB data per day along with 100 SMS/day.
In case users run out of data, Vodafone-Idea offers combo vouchers of Rs 49 and Rs 79 with a talk time of Rs 38 and Rs 64, respectively.
