Airtel likely to raise call tariff in two - three months time

Finally Bharti Airtel also to join the tariff hike rally along with Idea and Vodafone. Airtel CEO Mr. Sanjay Kapoor hinted this during the inauguration of their new network experience center in Manesar. He mentioned that the current tariff is unstable for any telecom operator to sustain and thus a tariff hike is required at this point of time. He added, the tariff hikes are expected to happen post spectrum auction.

We believe there are couple of reasons for Bharti Airtel to raise tariffs-

1. Tariff hike is indispensable as a result of the high base price of spectrum (post auction all tariffs are expected to raise by 30-40%)

2. The intense competition has come down from new operators, as Uninor scale down operations in many circles and Aircel & MTS is going to do the same for many of their circles.

3. All their nearest competitors have already increased tariffs.

4. Marginal dip in Net revenue and ARPU is coming down.

Anyway in order to take the advantage of Aircel and MTS scaling down their operations in some of their circles, Airtel might not think of a sudden tariff hike rather they prefer a gradual increase in two to three months time.