Bharti Airtel founder and chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal has renewed his pitch for higher mobile tariffs in India, arguing that consumers should pay an average of ₹350 per month—roughly ₹10 to ₹12 per day—for telecom services.
Speaking in an interview with PTI marking 50 years of Bharti Enterprises, Mittal compared everyday consumer spending on snacks and beverages with mobile recharge plans, noting that mobile phones now power essential daily utilities ranging from UPI payments and banking to education, direct benefit transfers, health records, and entertainment.
Why Mittal Wants Average Monthly Tariffs at ₹350
Mittal noted that his earlier industry benchmark of ₹300 average revenue per user (ARPU) was set a decade ago and no longer reflects inflation or rising operational expenses across fuel, electricity, salaries, and administration:
- Massive Infrastructure Gap With China: While China operates over 10 lakh mobile towers, India currently has roughly 3.5 lakh towers. Mittal emphasized that India must at least double its tower footprint while investing heavily in fibre networks and submarine cables.
- 5G Investments & Underwhelming Returns: Telecom operators have spent lakhs of crores on spectrum acquisition and an additional ₹1.5 lakh crore on 5G network rollout, yet financial returns remain muted. He also flagged that large digital platforms monetize telecom networks without matching capital expenditure.
- Airtel’s Current ARPU Math: Airtel posted an ARPU of ₹271 in the September quarter (up from ₹256 a year earlier). Reaching Mittal’s proposed ₹350 target—structured across entry-level plans above ₹200 and higher-tier packs from ₹500 to ₹1,000—would represent a ~29% jump.
”You buy now soap and a packet of chips. You know what it costs. Having a bottle of Pepsi costs you a lot more than that.”
— Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder & Chairman, Bharti Airtel
Timeline & Telecom Market Structure
Asked when mobile tariffs might reach the ₹350 mark, Mittal declined to offer a timeline, saying, “I don’t know.” Since 2019, the Indian telecom sector has implemented only three major tariff revisions, with the most recent round in June 2024 raising prices by 10% to 25%. Notably, Airtel recently reintroduced its ₹299 prepaid plan this month after withdrawing certain entry-level packs in August slowed net subscriber additions.
Mittal also stressed the importance of preserving a three-player private telecom market. Acknowledging financial pressures at Vodafone Idea and BSNL, he cautioned against returning to a hyper-fragmented market of over a dozen operators, which previously starved the sector of infrastructure capital.
