Airtel raises minimum prepaid plan to Rs 79, offers more usage time

Bharti Airtel on Wednesday raised its minimum prepaid recharge plan from Rs 49 to Rs 79, making the announcement weeks after revising its post-paid tariffs,

"Airtel has discontinued its Rs 49 entry level recharge plan," the company said in a statement.

Prepaid packs will now start from Rs 79 and offer up to four times more outgoing minutes of usage to customers, along with double the data.

Airtel customers on entry-level recharges can stay connected for longer without worrying about their account balance, the company said. In the Rs 79 recharge pack, Airtel is offering talk time worth Rs 64 with one paisa per second call tariff applicable on both local and STD calls. The plan comes bundled with 200MB of data and a validity of 28 days. The revised prepaid tariff plan will be applicable from July 29.

Prepaid customers comprise 95% of the total subscribers for the company and similar is the case with rivals Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio.

Airtel is the first to raise tariffs and experts feel that other telecom companies are likely to follow suit. Last week, the company discontinued its Rs 749 Family Postpaid Plan for new customers and will now offer Rs 999 as the only Family Postpaid Plan with enhanced data benefits.

Customers can add a connection to any Airtel postpaid plan at just Rs 299/SIM and get 30 GB additional data (10 GB earlier), unlimited calling and Thanks benefits.

For retail customers, the prices of Airtel postpaid plans start at Rs 399 per month and for corporate customers at Rs 299 per month.