Airtel users may have to pay Rs 100 per GB: Report

Srinagar: Bharti Airtel founder and Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal hints that big tariff hikes are coming soon and has asked subscribers to ‘prepare to pay a lot more’, according to Press Trust of India report.

He suggested that instead of getting 16GB data for Rs. 160, users should get only 1.6GB. This means Airtel looks to ask its subscribers Rs. 100 for every 1GB consumed.

According to Press Trust of India, Mittal at the launch of a Book at Bharti Enterprises said, “You either consume 1.6GB of capacity per month either at this price point or you may prepare to pay a lot more,” adding “We don’t want $50-60 (roughly Rs. 3,700 – Rs. 4,400) like the US or Europe but certainly $2 (roughly Rs. 160) for 16GB a month is not sustainable.”

According to PTI, Mittal said asking for Rs. 160 for 16GB of data was a tragedy for the businessman. Consumers should only be offered 1.6GB of data at this price point. This means Mittal expects consumers to pay Rs. 100 per GB.

Currently Airtel offers 1GB daily data for 24 days for Rs. 199. In the future, Airtel may only offer 2.4GB data for the whole validity period of this plan.

He said that the ideal average revenue per user (ARPU) should be at Rs. 300 per month for the business to be sustainable, and the Bharti Airtel wants the ARPU to cross at least Rs. 200 in six months adding “We need a Rs. 300 ARPU in which you will still have lower end at Rs. 100 a month with decent amount of data. But if your consumption is largely around watching TV, movies, entertainment and depriving other vital special services networks, then you need to pay for that.”

Airtel has seen an increase in ARPU to Rs. 157 in June this year, after it increased the tariffs last year in December. However, to reach a sustainable model, Airtel looks to increase the prices even further, the PTI report said.