An Indian shopkeeper shows different SIM cards in Mumbai, India, Dec. 2, 2019. India telecom companies have raised tariff between 15-40 percent across different plans effective from this week. The revised tariff comes at the backdrop of telecom companies reporting huge losses in its July-September quarter following an adverse ruling by India's apex court -- the Supreme Court on adjusted gross revenue. (Photo by Fariha Farooqui/Xinhua)
MUMBAI, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- India telecom companies have raised tariff between 15-40 percent across different plans effective from this week.
"Our new mobile plans offer tremendous value to our customers and are backed by a superior network experience on Airtel's nationwide 4G network," said Shashwat Sharma, chief marketing officer, Bharti Airtel, the third largest mobile network operator in India on late Sunday.
Vodafone Idea, the second largest telecom operator in India, too made a statement announcing revised tariffs, which will be effective Tuesday along with Bharti Airtel, while Reliance Jio, which leads the list as the Indian telecom company said it will be introducing new plans with unlimited voice and data effective December 6.
"Although, the new all-in-one plans will be priced up to 40 per cent higher, staying true to its promise of being customer-first, Reliance Jio customers will get up to 300 percent more benefits," Reliance Jio said in a release.
According to a recent study, India has the cheapest mobile data in the world with 1GB costing just 0.26 U.S. dollars as compared to global average of about 8.36 U.S. dollars. The average price of 0.26 dollars for one gigabyte (GB) in India compares to 6.66 dollars in the UK and 12.37 dollars for the same amount of data in the U.S., the study, which compared mobile data charges across 230 countries, said.
The revised tariff comes at the backdrop of telecom companies reporting huge losses in its July-September quarter following an adverse ruling by India's apex court -- the Supreme Court on adjusted gross revenue.
Earlier this year, Vodafone Idea raised equity funds to the extent of 3.6 billion U.S. dollars while an equal amount was raised by Bharti Airtel to tide over the price war triggered by the entry of Reliance Jio two years back.
