Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are likely to withdraw their unlimited 5G data plans for premium customers and charge at least 5-10% more for 5G services – compared to 4G – from the second half of 2024 in a bid to drive monetisation and boost revenue growth, analysts said.
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Industry experts also expect the two telecom operators to raise mobile tariffs by at least 20% in the September quarter of 2024 to improve their RoCE (return on capital employed) amid intensive investments on 5G and higher customer acquisition costs.
For nearly a year, Jio and Airtel have been offering 5G services at 4G rates coupled with unlimited data offerings to lure existing users to upgrade to the next-gen wireless broadband service. Analysts expect this to change with both Jio and Airtel poised to roll out 5G services nationwide and prioritise monetisation once adoption levels increase.
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“With rising focus on monetisation and 5G coverage near completion, we believe the telcos (read: Jio and Airtel) may stop offering unlimited 5G data to their higher-ARPU data customers and announce 5G-specific plans towards 2HCY24,” Jefferies said in a research note.
The global brokerage added that while the absolute price-points for Airtel and Jio’s 5G plans may be 5-10% higher than 4G, the operators may bundle 30-40% additional data in such plans to spur adoption and drive market share gains at the expense of cash-strapped Vodafone Idea (Vi), which is yet to launch 5G services.
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But at Airtel’s last earnings call in November 2023, managing director Gopal Vittal had ruled out charging more for 5G services anytime soon amid the continuing paucity of applications that really use the benefits of 5G technology. He, however, said that Airtel won’t hesitate to take the lead in raising overall mobile tariffs at the right point to boost monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) levels to around ₹250 from a little over ₹200 currently.
