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The three private telecommunications providers in the country, Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, said they would raise the prices of their prepaid voice and data products, putting an end to a prolonged tariff war that took tariffs down to the lowest in the world.

The rise in most of the plans announced by the three operators on 01.12.2019 Sunday night was between 15 and 47%. While the new tariffs for Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel will be effective starting on Tuesday, the revised tariffs for Reliance Jio will be effective on 6 December.

The tariff increase of the three operators is the first of its kind in more than a decade after years of competition ensured that the prices of calls and data services hit rock bottom.

The arrival of Reliance Jio in September 2016 exacerbated the price war, causing an industry-wide merger that left only three private telecoms and triggered unprecedented losses for Vodafone Idea Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd.

Around a fortnight ago, the three operators said they would raise prices, although it is not yet clear whether the government has encouraged them to do so.

“The new Airtel plans represent tariff increases from just 50 paise per day to Rs. 2.85 per day and provide generous data and call benefits,” the company said in a statement on Sunday.

Airtel merged its popular 169 and 199 plans into a single 248 package. The previous 28-day validity remains the same. The tariff hike for users of its ₹169 pack comes to be 47%, although customers will now get 1.5GB of data per day, 50% more from what they were getting earlier and the same as what the ₹199 plan user was enjoying.

Vodafone Idea has also announced new plans for prepaid products and services with validity periods of 2 days, 28 days, 84 days and 365 days.

Reliance Jio said it would launch “all in one” plans which, though 40 per cent more expensive, would offer 300 per cent more benefits.

Bharti Airtel Also Capping Voice Calls to Other Networks

It was Reliance Jio back in October which started capping the voice calls to other networks from the basic prepaid plans. The Mukesh Ambani-led telcom has come up with IUC Top-Up plans which allowed the users to make voice calls to rival networks at six paise per minute. Every Vodafone Idea prepaid plan introduced earlier today came with Fair Usage Policy (FUP) minutes for off-net voice calls.

Airtel also says there’s a Fair Usage Policy (FUP)  limit for unlimited calling to other networks on every prepaid plan, but the company did not specify the exact limit though.

The telcom did confirm the voice calls post the Fair Usage Policy (FUP)  limit will be charged at six paise per minute, similar to Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea.

Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, both heavily indebted, posted significant losses in the September quarter owing to the adverse ruling of the Supreme Court, which affirmed the government’s broader definition of revenue on which it measures levies on telecommunications operators.

Vodafone Idea’s loss for the September quarter increased to Rs. 50,922 crore from Rs. 4,874 crore in the previous year, as it set aside money to pay government fees. Rival Bharti Airtel swung to a net loss of Rs. 23,045 crore in a quarter of a profit of Rs. 118 crore in the year earlier .

On 24 October, the Supreme Court ordered telecom companies to pay at least Rs. 92,000 crore in the past dues to the government within three months. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, along with two others, have lodged a plea with the Supreme Court to review the verdict.