Bharti Airtel has removed four prepaid recharge packs as part of changes to its plan portfolio.
Customers in affected categories may now have to choose alternatives that cost around 5% to 16% more.
Highlights
- Airtel discontinues Rs 299, Rs 579, Rs 619 and Rs 649 prepaid packs
- Changes apply to prepaid customers across India
- Rs 349 plan is now the next option for users of the Rs 299 pack
- The changes do not amount to a blanket tariff hike across all plans
- Alternative packs in affected categories cost roughly 5% to 16% more
- Airtel is looking to simplify prepaid offerings and improve ARPU
Bharti Airtel has discontinued four prepaid recharge plans priced at Rs 299, Rs 579, Rs 619 and Rs 649 across India, changing the options available to customers in these categories.
The move does not represent a broad-based increase in tariffs across Airtel’s entire prepaid portfolio. Instead, the telecom operator has removed selected plans, which means customers who previously used these packs may now need to opt for the next available recharge option.
One of the most noticeable changes affects the Rs 299 prepaid plan. Customers who previously used this pack will now have the Rs 349 recharge as the next available alternative.
As a result, users in some of the affected categories may have to pay around 5% to 16% more depending on the replacement plan they select.
The move comes as Airtel continues efforts to simplify its prepaid recharge portfolio while also focusing on improving average revenue per user, or ARPU, an important measure of earnings generated from each subscriber.
Airtel has also been advocating a more differentiated approach to telecom pricing. Rather than increasing prices uniformly for all customers, the company has argued that subscribers who consume more data should pay more.
The latest changes appear to follow this broader strategy by adjusting selected packs instead of implementing an across-the-board tariff revision.
For prepaid subscribers, the immediate impact will depend on which of the discontinued packs they previously used and what alternative recharge options are now available in the same category.
Customers using unaffected Airtel prepaid packs will not necessarily see any change in their recharge prices because the latest revision is limited to selected plans.
The removal of these packs also highlights how telecom operators are gradually restructuring their prepaid offerings as they seek to balance customer affordability with higher revenue per subscriber.
Users planning their next recharge may therefore need to check Airtel’s current prepaid portfolio to identify the closest replacement for their earlier plan.
