New Delhi, Aug 12 (PTI) Bharti Airtel has discontinued all prepaid plans that were offering 1.5 GB data per day with an unlimited calling facility, leaving customers to choose from pricier plans offering higher data usage per day, according to information available on the company's app.

The telco withdrew five prepaid plans – Rs 299, Rs 319, Rs 579, Rs 619 and Rs 649 – leaving subscribers of the popular Rs 299 plan with pricier options to choose from.

Experts say that the latest move by Airtel signals what may be an inevitable industry shift towards higher tariffs as telcos sharpen their focus on improving average revenue per user (ARPU).

The reshuffled prepaid offering deck leaves the entry-level Rs 199 and Rs 219 plans unchanged, but it means that subscribers of the popular Rs 299 plan looking for a higher data usage quota per day will now have to opt for the Rs 349 pack, translating into a price rise of about 16 per cent for them.

While there is no official announcement from the company, people aware of the development said the move is part of Airtel's efforts to drive sustained ARPU growth. They argued that subscribers on the Rs 299 plan would often exhaust their data allowance and end up buying top-ups or recharging again, anyway. The Rs 349 plan, in comparison, offers unlimited 5G data.

The discontinued plan priced at Rs 299 offered 1.5 GB per day with validity of 28 days. The same set of services with 30-day validity was being offered under a plan priced at Rs 319. The Rs 579 plan was offering 1.5GB per day with 56 days' validity, the Rs 619 plan came with a similar benefit with 60-day validity and the Rs 649 plan offered 2GB data per day with 56-day validity.

Bharti Airtel management, during the earnings call last week, had said the company sees potential for raising tariffs on plans that offer unlimited data at lower price points.

In response to a question if Bharti Airtel needs to hike tariffs given that it is recording healthy growth, Executive Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal had said when the company talks about tariff repair, it is actually about the architecture of mobile plans in place.

“Which means that for a very low level of pricing, you get unlimited data, and that means ARPU is capped. That to me is not a healthy way to operate it because if you look at it, and we have talked about this before,” Vittal said.

He said every market has offerings in terms of small, medium, large to extra large and therefore, there is a need for “sensible price architecture” in mobile services.

Airtel India’s average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 5.6 per cent to Rs 264, highest in the industry, during the first quarter of the current fiscal, compared to Rs 250 a year ago.

Experts said Airtel's move could also set the stage for other telecom operators to follow suit as the industry pushes for better realisations.

Bharti Airtel reported a 37.3 per cent increase in profit after tax to Rs 8,167 crore in the June quarter, driven by strong growth across India and Africa operations. Its revenue from operations during the quarter increased 18.3 per cent to Rs 58,539 crore from Rs 49,462.6 crore in the June quarter a year ago. PTI PRS MBI SHM