Airtel prepaid recharge plans changed: Check new options as several plans discontinued, Rs 299 pack removed

Bharti Airtel has changed its prepaid recharge lineup, removing several plans from its portfolio, including the popular Rs 299 recharge. Customers using some of the discontinued packs will now have to choose from the remaining options, with the Rs 349 plan becoming the cheapest Airtel unlimited 28-day daily-data recharge after the Rs 299 pack was withdrawn.

The changes cover multiple prepaid plans with different validity periods and daily data benefits. Analysts expect the portfolio changes to help Airtel improve its average revenue per user (ARPU) in the coming quarters.

Airtel removes Rs 299 prepaid recharge plan

The Rs 299 recharge was one of Airtel's popular prepaid options. It came with 28 days of validity and offered 1.5GB of data per day. Airtel has now discontinued this plan. Customers looking for the same 1.5GB-per-day benefit for 28 days will have to move to the Rs 349 recharge.


That means users shifting from the Rs 299 pack to the Rs 349 option will pay Rs 50 more for the same daily data benefit. The change represents an increase of around 16%.

The Rs 349 recharge is now Airtel's cheapest unlimited 28-day prepaid option offering daily data.

Several Airtel recharge plans withdrawn

The Rs 299 plan is not the only recharge removed by Airtel. The telecom company has discontinued a number of 1.5GB-per-day plans, including the Rs 319 pack with 30-day validity, Rs 579 pack with 56-day validity and Rs 619 pack with 69-day validity.

Airtel has also withdrawn the Rs 649 plan offering 2GB of daily data for 56 days. The Rs 799 plan has also been removed from the lineup.

The company has made a change to the Rs 859 plan as well. Instead of being discontinued, the recharge has been repriced to Rs 899, according to channel checks.

Some lower-priced options have not been affected. The Rs 199 and Rs 219 entry-level plans continue to be available.

Airtel prepaid plans: What changed

Plan	Validity	Data benefit	Current status
Rs 299	28 days	1.5GB/day	Discontinued; Rs 349 is the replacement option
Rs 319	30 days	1.5GB/day	Discontinued
Rs 579	56 days	1.5GB/day	Discontinued
Rs 619	69 days	1.5GB/day	Discontinued
Rs 649	56 days	2GB/day	Discontinued
Rs 799	77 days	Daily-data benefits	Discontinued
Rs 859	Long-term	2GB/day	Repriced to Rs 899
Rs 199 / Rs 219	Entry-level	Lower-data benefits	Unchanged

For Airtel users, the most noticeable change is the removal of the Rs 299 recharge. Those who previously relied on the plan for 28 days of 1.5GB daily data will now need to spend Rs 349 for the corresponding option.

Why Airtel is changing its prepaid portfolio

Airtel's latest move appears to be more than just a reduction in the number of recharge options. The company is also trying to push customers towards plans with higher revenue potential.

The telecom operator has withdrawn some longer-validity and daily-data plans that had relatively low customer adoption. Simplifying the portfolio can also make it easier for subscribers to choose between the remaining plans.

Analysts expect the changes to support Airtel's ARPU growth by around 3%-4% in the coming quarters.

JM Financial told ET that the move should not be viewed as an across-the-board tariff hike. According to the brokerage, Airtel is modifying its prepaid plans to encourage subscribers to move towards higher data and higher-ARPU options.

The brokerage also expects other telecom companies to consider similar changes, although other operators had not made comparable changes at the time of its assessment.

Airtel had made a similar change last year

This is not the first time Airtel has removed an entry-level prepaid plan.

JM Financial pointed to a similar move in August last year when Airtel withdrew its Rs 249 1GB-per-day, 28-day plan from its digital channels.

The company also discontinued its Rs 249 plan with 24-day validity. The Rs 299 recharge then became the entry-level 28-day, 1GB-per-day option.

Airtel has now removed the Rs 299 pack as well, moving customers towards the costlier Rs 349 recharge.

Airtel's pricing strategy

The latest prepaid changes come after Airtel introduced its high-speed postpaid Fastlane plan, with the company focusing on premiumisation and improving ARPU.

Shashwat Sharma, MD & CEO, Airtel India, has also spoken about the need to change the industry's pricing structure as data usage increases.

“I think the pricing architecture will have to repair with charging for data consumption becoming the norm if we are to see this kind of long-term sustainability,” Sharma had said during the company's recent earnings call. “This is paramount for sustained ARPU growth in the longer term.”

Airtel's latest financial results also show strong growth. Bharti Airtel reported a 37.3% increase in profit after tax to Rs 8,167 crore in the June quarter. Revenue from operations rose 18.3% to Rs 58,539 crore from Rs 49,462.6 crore in the year-ago quarter.