A day after Vodafone Idea and Airtel announced that they will be hiking tariffs from December 1, Reliance Jio has now announced that it will increase tariffs in the next few weeks.
Jio said in a statement that, with TRAI likely to initiate consultation process for revision of telecom tariffs, Jio will also work with the Government and comply with the regulatory regime to strengthen the industry to benefit Indian consumers.
However, it claimed that it will increase tariffs in a manner that does not adversely impact data consumption or growth in digital adoption and sustains investments.
On Monday, Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel announced that they will be hiking tariffs from December 1.
“The acute financial stress in the telecom sector has been acknowledged by all stakeholders and a high-level Committee of Secretaries (CoS) headed by the Cabinet Secretary is looking into providing appropriate relief,” the Vodafone said in a statement.
It stated that mobile data charges in India are the cheapest in the world, and that it was expanding its coverage to offer to offer 4G services to 1 billion Indian citizens by March 2020.
Meanwhile, Airtel said in a statement that it would balance the needs of the company to remain viable and thereby continue to invest in the much-needed digital infrastructure and maintain the quality standards required by our customers.
It further added that the telecom sector is highly capital intensive and constantly changing technology, which requires continuous investment. “It is, therefore, extremely important that the industry remains viable to support the vision of Digital India,” the company stated.
Airtel and Vodafone Idea posted a combined loss of Rs 74,000 crore in Q2 by provisioning for the AGR pending dues.
Vodafone Idea posted a loss of Rs 50,921 crore in Q2, highest quarterly loss ever posted by an Indian company. It had earlier said that it would be able to continue to run operations only based on the relief it gets from the government.
Bharti Airtel reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 23,044.9 crore in Q2, against a loss of Rs 2,866 crore in the previous quarter, on provisions towards Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR).
A day before the results for Q2, the Department of Telecommunications notified telcos that the dues had to be paid within three months. After this, both Vodafone and Airtel posted huge losses.