Focus on high-value users in telecom tariff war

Indian telecom companies are offering aggressive tariff plans to retain customers and poach high-paying users from rival operators as they seek to arrest a decline in their revenues amid a tariff war.

The move follows the launch of Jio Prime by Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, under which the firm is offering free voice calls and data with a daily cap of 1 GB for ₹303 a month. Jio’s Prime plan aims to retain its 100 million user base after its free services end on March 31 as well as poach subscribers from other networks.

Responding to Jio’s move, India’s largest telecom company Bharti Airtel Ltd introduced a ₹145 plan and a ₹349 plan. The cheaper plan offers 14GB data per month with a 500MB cap per day and unlimited calls to Airtel numbers. The ₹349 plan has unlimited calls to all networks.

Vodafone India Ltd, on the other hand, is targeting Jio’s ₹499 plan by offering 15 GB of data for the first three months at the same price and 6 GB thereafter, according to a call received by this reporter to port his number to the Vodafone network.

A person aware of Airtel’s plans said these plans are meant for customers who reach out to them proactively to move out of the network.

An email sent to Airtel remained unanswered at the time of going to press. A Vodafone India spokesperson declined to comment.

Airtel is urging sales partners to push these plans to customers. Channel partners are being given special commissions on these plans—double the 2.5-3% that they get on other plans.

According to a February 27 report by Credit Suisse, Airtel’s plans are not openly marketed but targeted at higher-Arpu (average revenue per user) customers through the Airtel app, or the plans are disclosed when one walks into a store for cash recharge. “Even subscribers with more than ₹600 monthly spend (like some of our team members) are getting these offers as of now (particularly if these subscribers have shown a drop in spend recently),” the report said.