In a sharp increase, most telecom operators in India have hiked the prices of mobile internet up to 100% in the period between June and September.
Among the newest ones to join is Airtel that has increased the mobile internet rates by 33%. On the other hand, both Vodafone and Idea have been increasing rates since June.
The mobile services market in India is held to an extent of 57% by Airtel, Vodafone and Idea.
“Around 2 months ago, we changed the base tariff of 2G for 1GB pack from Rs 155 to Rs 175. This has been carried out in a phased manner across circles,” a Vodafone India spokesperson was quoted in a report by Times of India.
Airtel and Idea, on the other hand, has increased the current rate of 2G mobile internet pack of 1GB from Rs. 155 to Rs. 175.
As a smart move, most of the telecom operators don’t announce the tariff rates via announcements, instead the customers find the new rates once they have been implemented on the websites.
However, the post paid customers are informed via SMS, ahead of the billing cycles.
Telecom operators need to inform telecom regulator TRAI on the tariff rates, although no communication is made to the prepaid customers, who make 90% of the market.
For now, Vodafone and Idea Cellular customers would have to pay 4 paise per 10 kb of data as compared to 2 paise charged before.
Quite obviously, people are not using 1GB packs and schemes will have to pay more, but the margin is more than 100%, so they will be paying close to Rs 4,000 for 1GB.
Among all, Airtel charges the highest sans any scheme, where customer has to pay 10 paise per 10 kb.