With a few days to go before the start of July 2024, India's two biggest telecom companies on Friday announced tariff hikes and published new prices for prepaid and postpaid services. Jio as well as Airtel on Friday announced a tariff hike. It means the people of India will have to shed more money for the monthly, half-yearly, and even yearly prepaid or postpaid plans. Talking about Jio, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, has announced a price hike to the existing rates of its mobile services and prepaid, and postpaid plans. The new prices will come into effect on July 3. Jio is also restricting access to 5G unlimited data for customers.
On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom operator after Reliance Jio, has announced a hike of 10% to 21% in mobile tariffs. Sunil Bharti Mittal's telecom company said that it will hike mobile tariffs starting July 3, 2024. Now the cheapest plan of Rs 179 will be available for Rs 199. It has 28 days of validity, unlimited calling, and 2 GB of data. The same plan of Rs 265 will be available for Rs 299. It has 28 days of validity, unlimited calling, and 2 GB of data daily.
Now, the question arises which telecom services are cheaper after the price hike? Below is the Jio vs Airtel new tariff plan-
Jio Old & New Tariffs 2024
| Existing Plan | Benefits | Validity | New Plan |
| Rs 155 | 2 GB | 28 days | Rs 189 |
| Rs 209 | 1 GB/day | 28 days | Rs 249 |
| Rs 239 | 1.5 GB/day | 28 days | Rs 299 |
| Rs 299 | 2 GB/day | 28 days | Rs 349 |
| Rs 349 | 2.5 GB/day | 28 days | Rs 399 |
| Rs 399 | 3 GB/day | 28 days | Rs 499 |
| Rs 499 | 1.5 GB/day | 56 days | Rs 579 |
| Rs 533 | 2 GB/day | 56 days | Rs 629 |
| Rs 399 (Postpaid) | 75 GB | bill cycle | Rs 499 |
Airtel Old & New Tariffs 2024
Why did Airtel & Jio hike tariffs?
As per reports, Jio & Airtel marked their first major rate increase by a telco since 2021, aimed at boosting average revenue per user (ARPU) due to the high investments in 5G services. As per ET, Brokerage CLSA suggests that Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea need at least a 20% rate hike to reach a sectoral ARPU of Rs 200-217 by FY25-26. In May, Airtel's managing director Gopal Vittal emphasized the need for substantial tariff increases, citing the low return on capital employed (RoCE) at 9.5%. He noted, "While tariff hikes would invariably lead to some SIM consolidation, the upside benefits are far greater."