Bharti Airtel will raise headline tariffs for post-paid and June 2026, blaming “broken” pricing that lets high-usage subscribers pay less than their network cost, executives told analysts on the Q4 FY26 call on 18 May according to medianama.com.
Management said unlimited data plans introduced in 2019 have compressed blended ARPU to ₹193 even as the top 10 % of users consume 50 % of traffic. CFO Harjeet Kohli disclosed the board approved a two-step hike: first, a ₹50-80 increase on the ₹399 and ₹499 post-paid plans from 1 June, followed by a new 300 GB “fair-use” ceiling on unlimited packs in July. The company will also withdraw the ₹99 add-on family SIM and push users to the ₹219 plan, medianama.com reported.
The move comes after Reliance Jio raised prepaid rates by 12-25 % in March 2026 and Vi signalled a similar revision. Airtel’s last price reset in November 2021 lifted ARPU by 18 % within two quarters, data from TRAI show. Sector analysts at ICICI Securities estimate every ₹20 increase adds roughly ₹1,000 crore to Ebitda annually for Airtel, giving it firepower to accelerate 5G capex and spectrum renewals due in 2027.
Airtel plans to complete SIM verification for the new tariffs by 15 August and will publish plan details on its app and week. Investors will watch the July earnings call for net-add churn and whether Jio matches the ceiling on unlimited data, a decision that could set the floor for Indian telecom pricing into FY27.