Indian telecom users are expected to pay Rs.47,500 crore more annually as a result of the tariff hikes from India’s top three telecom operators, reported the Economic Times quoting a Kotak Institutional Equities research note.

The tariff hikes were executed to effectively monetise their new 5G plans and put an end to the ongoing price war among the telecom operators which has been waging since 2016, according to the report.

Reliance Jio Infocomm increased their prices by 13-27 per cent, Bharti Airtel raised tariffs by 10-21 per cent, and Vodafone Idea raised prices by nearly 10-23 per cent, within two days.

A Jio user willing to get a 5G internet plan must now pay a minimum of ₹349 for a 2 GB per day recharge pack, as compared to the earlier ₹239 data plan which gave them 1.5 GB per day.

Similarly, an Airtel user willing to get a 5G data pack now has to even take a bigger priced pack at ₹409 which gives them 2.5 GB internet per day, as compared to the earlier ₹239 plan which gave them 1.5 GB per day.

Why a sudden tariff hike by Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone?

Bharti Airtel’s Managing Director Gopal Vittal, as well as Vodafone Idea’s Chief Executive Officer Akshaya Moondra, have often expressed their views on the pricing structure which needs to change in the country.

They highlighted that it needs to be changed to the global standard where users pay more for consuming more data, as compared to India where the users are paying the same on average irrespective of their internet usage.

India first experienced its telecom price war fueled by Jio using their low price strategy to acquire customers, leading competitors like Airtel and Vodafone to follow the new lead and not risk losing their existing customers.