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

Company is the first to raise tariffs and its rivals are likely to follow suit, say experts.

Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal seems to have walked the talk as the New Delhi-based telco on Wednesday raised the entry-level tariff by more than 60 per cent in a disruptive telecom market. The minimum recharge plan tariff has gone up from Rs 49 to Rs 79 for prepaid customers, who constitute close to 95 per cent of its 340-million mobile user base.

The move comes within weeks of Mittal claiming that his company would not hesitate to undertake a tariff hike. While he maintained that tariff hikes could not be done unilaterally and that other telcos must join in, Bharti