Hike in mobile service rate in next 6 months, hinted Bharti Airtel chairman

Sunil Bharti Mittal ,Bharti Airtel chairman on Monday hinted at an increase in mobile services prices in the next 6 months, saying that the data at low rates is not sustainable for the telecom industry.
He stated that consumption of 16 GB data a month for Rs 160 is a tragedy.

“You either consume 1.6 GB of capacity per month either at this price point or you may prepare to pay a lot more. We do not want USD 50-60 like the US or Europe but certainly USD 2 for 16 GB a month is not sustainable,” said Mittal at an event.

The average revenue per user is likely to cross Rs 200 in 6 months on digital content consumption. ARPU is the measure of revenue generated per user for a telecom. “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,” said Mittal at the launch of a book written by Akhil Gupta, Bharti Enterprises executive.

Airtel reported a raise in the average revenue per user to Rs 157 in the 1st quarter ended on 3oth June, 2020. The increase in ARPU came after the tariff hike by Bharti Airtel in December 2019. He said that while telecom operators have served the nation during the difficult times, the industry needs to invest in 5G, more optical fibres, submarine cables etc.

“Businesses which are not in telecom, also need to adopt digital. You should see solid ARPUs building up in the next 5-6 months for the industry to be sustainable. We are down to 2-3 players now. India is a very price conscious market. In six months’ time we should be crossing the mark of Rs 200 for sure and Rs 250 would be ideal,” said Mittal. 

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