- Mobile recharge will soon become expensive, companies preparing to increase prices.
- To recover 5G expenses and increase profits, companies will make recharge expensive.
- Unhappy with customer service quality, yet recharges consistently expensive.
Getting Mobile Recharge Costly: Your pocket is going to get another blow. Buying a mobile phone has already become expensive and now recharging the mobile is also going to be expensive. According to media reports, both Jio and Airtel are planning to make their recharge plans expensive in the coming days. Although this has not been confirmed yet by these companies, it is being speculated that the recharge plans of these companies may become costlier by 12-15 percent in the next 3-4 months. This simply means that in the coming days you will have to spend more money for calling and data.
Why can prices be increased?
Telecom companies have spent a lot of money in purchasing 5G infrastructure and spectrum. Now the turn has come to recover it. Reports say that companies will make recharge plans expensive to increase their profits and recover the money spent for 5G. Due to increase in plan prices, the average revenue per user (ARPU) of companies will also increase. It is an important financial metric for companies as well as investors. It is being said that after network expansion and technology upgrade, the pressure on companies to earn returns is increasing. Both Jio and Airtel have provided 5G connectivity to 90 percent of the districts of the country. Talking about Vodafone Idea, the company’s 5G service has started in more than 100 cities. BSNL is the only company left in the country which has not been able to launch 5G connectivity yet.
Cheap plans are a thing of the past
If we look at the time of Jio’s inception, the company had started offering such free plans, which cannot even be imagined today. At its launch in September 2016, Jio was offering all the benefits including calling and data for free. However, now times have changed. In the last 10 years, the prices of recharge plans have been continuously increasing and cheap plans are beginning to seem like a thing of the past. The benefits which were available in the Rs 200 plan till some time ago, now cost Rs 300-400.
Companies are quietly discontinuing cheap plans
It is not that telecom companies are planning to make their plans expensive in one go. Even in between, these companies keep making their plans expensive. Talking about Airtel, the country’s second largest telecom company had discontinued its Rs 799 plan in April this year and made the Rs 859 plan costlier to Rs 899. Similarly, in November last year, its entry plan of Rs 189 was discontinued. In its place, the cheapest plan of Rs 199 was introduced. Similarly, Jio had also discontinued its cheap plan of Rs 209 a few days ago.
When did prices increase before this?
The last major increase in recharge plans by telecom companies was about two years ago. In July 2024, companies had increased their rates by 10-25 percent. It was then said that this step was being taken to spend on the expensive 5G network.
Are the customers happy with the services?
The news of price hike by telecom companies has come at a time when customers are not happy with the services. Customers are continuously complaining about call drops, slow internet and network quality. He says that recharging mobile phones has become expensive in the last few years, but the service has not improved in proportion to this. Even after the advent of faster connectivity, stable internet connection remains a challenge in many places.
What effect will it have on the common man?
The expensive recharge plan is going to have a direct impact on your pocket. After the price hike, you will have to pay more money to get the same benefits. If we look at the accounts of the last 10 years, the prices of recharge plans are increasing every few years. The plan which was priced at Rs 200 till 2-3 years ago, today its price has almost doubled. Accordingly, if the companies increase the rates once again, the Rs 400 plan may go beyond Rs 450.
Recharge plans are still the cheapest in India
It is important to mention that despite the recent increase in rates, using mobile in India is still the cheapest. In March this year, the government had said that in India, which has 103 crore internet users, the price of one GB data is Rs 7-10, while the global average is around Rs 250.
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