ZCZC
BCN-10
INDIA-TELECOM-VODAFONE-CHARGE
Voda Idea to raise mobile call, data charges from Dec 3 by up to 50%
New Delhi, Dec 2, 2019 (BSS/PTI) – In a first mobile tariff hike in
past four years, telecom operator Vodafone Idea on Sunday announced new plans
under which call and data charges will be dearer for its pre-paid customers
by up to 50 per cent from December 3.
Besides this, Vodafone Idea will also charge 6 paise per minute for every
outgoing call made by customers on to the network of other operators.
“Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL), India’s leading telecom service provider, today
announced new tariffs/plans for its prepaid products and services. New plans
will be available across India starting 00:00 hours of 3 December 2019,” the
company said in a statement.
The company will increase its entry level unlimited plan with a year-long
validity by about 50 per cent to Rs 1,499 from with 24 GB of data instead of
Rs 999 plan, which comes with 12 GB data usage limit.
The price of plan with 365 days validity in the same category with daily data
usage limit of 1.5 GB per day will cost 41.2 per cent more at Rs 2,399 from
December 3 as against 1,699 at present.
Vodafone Idea has only revised rates of plan promising unlimited mobile and
data services and also introduced some new plans.
A company official explained all the existing plans in unlimited category
will be replaced by the new plans from December 3 and new plans will be
introduced or revised based on market response.
Though the company classifies a set of plans in ‘unlimited’ category, these
actually come with usage limit for data at a promised speed and 100 SMS per
day limit.
The highest rate of increase of 41.2 per cent has been announced by the
company in annual unlimited category plan which will cost Rs 2,399 instead of
1,699 at present.
The starting plan with data offering of 1.5 Gb per day with 84 days validity
in “unlimited” category will cost around 31 per cent more at Rs 599 compared
to Rs 458 at present.
The company will raise the price of Rs 199 unlimited plan, which offers 1.5
Gb data per day, by about 25 per cent to Rs 249.
Vodafone Idea which is reeling under massive debt of around Rs 1.17 lakh
crore had earlier cited acute financial stress on the company behind the
decision to raise mobile call and data charges.
Vodafone Idea last month reported a consolidated loss of Rs 50,921 crore —
the highest ever loss posted by any Indian corporate — for the September
quarter on account of liability arising out of the Supreme Court’s order in
the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) case.
The company has estimated liability of Rs 44,150 crore post the apex court
order, and made provisioning of Rs 25,680 crore in the second quarter this
fiscal.
BSS/PTI/HR/1145