Airtel inflates the price of its cheapest plan; Check

Bharti Airtel has dropped its Rs 99 19-circle baserecharge scheme in Maharashtra and Kerala. As a result, users living in these Indian states must now have a minimum plan of Rs 155 to keep their SIM cards active. The telecom operator started scrapping its Rs 99 scheme in November 2022 and discontinued it in Odisha and Haryana.

Later, in January 2023, Airtel dropped its Rs 99 base recharge plan in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, HP, Rajasthan, Northeast, Karnataka and UP-West. So now, the Rs 99 plan is only available in a few circles, and the new entry-level plan is trading at Rs 155.

The basic plan of Rs 99 offered a talk time of Rs 99 with 2.5 paise per second and 200MB of data for 28 days. However, with the updated base plan, Airtel has increased the price of its base plan by 57 per cent. The new Rs 155 entry-level plan will offer users unlimited calls, 300 SMS, and 1GB of data for 24 days with added benefits of free Wynk Music and Hellotunes.

While Rs 99 was affordable and offered more validity, Rs 155 offered more value. But it will still be more expensive for some users, especially customers who use Airtel as a secondary SIM and want a cheaper top-up plan to keep using the network's services.

Airtel is reviewing its rates to increase the company's revenue margins. Telecom giants like Jio and Airtel are expected to switch and increase the prices of their existing plans by 10 per cent. A Business Insider report suggests that Jio, Airtel and other telecom operators could announce a 10 per cent rate increase in the next three years, i.e. Q4 of FY23, FY24 and FY25. Therefore, users may see a steady rise in the price of mobile recharge plans after every fourth quarter for the next several years.