Airtel’s ₹99 Plan price hiked | Airtel vs Jio vs Vi

Airtel’s cheapest recharge plan ₹99 will now cost ₹155, an increase in the tariff plan by 57%. Even after the price hike, the Airtel ₹155 plan is still the cheapest of Airtel for unlimited data and calling. This price hike is applicable in 8 states including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Northeast, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh-West. Earlier it was only tested in Odisha and Haryana. Soon, a much wider rollout is expected.

Airtel had already announced a price hike in November last year, 2022. However, now the telecom company has announced a much wider rollout. As of September 2022, Bharti Airtel's India mobile business had a total of 328 million subscribers, of which 109 million did not use data. Of this bucket, Morgan Stanley estimates roughly "33 to 40 million could be sitting on the minimum recharge plans, with a potential average revenue per user (ARPU) of Rs 95".

With the telecom brands facing mounting stress to increase their ARPU, a price hike was expected from most major telecom operators including Reliance Jio. As per reports, Airtel is expecting its Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) to reach ₹206 by the financial year 2025, introducing at least a 10% hike each year. 

Airtel also recently launched its Disney+ Hotstar complimentary subscription to its three more Airtel prepaid plans.

While the Airtel ₹155 plan (the former ₹99 plan) comes with a 24 days validity and 1GB data per day limit, here’s what you get with other telecom operators' plans at the same price.

Here’s a comparison between Airtel's vs Jio vs Vodafone Idea’s ₹155 worth base recharge plan to give you an overview of which telecom operator is currently offering the most value in the same price point.

If you remember, the last time Airtel and Reliance Jio both announced a price hike in their tariff plans was in 2021. That price hike also included this same base plan and the price of the same was increased from ₹79 to ₹99 and now the price of the same base plan is increased to ₹155.

Reliance Jio recently launched its Jio 5G ₹61 Data Recharge plan and announced two new plans, Jio ₹349 and ₹899 plans. The prior comes with a 30 days validity and the latter with a 90 days validity period.