Major telecom operators have raised mobile internet rates by up to 100 per cent during the June 2014-September 2014 quarter across the country. Recently, Bharti Airtel hiked the mobile rates by up to 33 per cent while Vodafone and Idea Cellular have been gradually increasing their mobile internet rates since June 2014. The three companies have a combined market share of about 57 per cent in the country.
In July 2014, Vodafone had revised the base tariff of 2G data services for 1 GB pack from Rs 155 to Rs 175. This has been carried out in a phased manner across its licensed circles. Airtel and Idea have also increased the tariffs of 2G data services. Meanwhile, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have increased the base rate by up to 100 per cent from Re 0.02 per 10 kb of data usage to Re 0.04 per 10 kb.
Airtel started increasing mobile internet rates from September 2014. The company?s data plans are now at par with those of Vodafone and Idea in terms of rack rate, which is at Re 0.04 per 10 kb. However, the increase is of 33 per cent because the company was charging Re 0.03 per 10 kb earlier. The 2G data pack rate of Airtel is highest among the three operators at Re 0.1 per 10 kb for a data pack, which company is now selling for Rs 176.
