Vodafone and Bharti set to raise prices help pay government bill

Beleaguered Indian operators Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel have indicated they will need to start charging their customers more.

Neither of them explicitly blamed the massive government bill they’ve been asked to pay for the unspecified price hike, but the fact that it has happened so soon after they got the bill and that they made the announcements almost simultaneously means it’s very unlikely to be a coincidence. The increase will kick in at the start of next month.

“To ensure that its customers continue to enjoy world class digital experiences, Vodafone Idea will suitably increase the prices of its tariffs effective December 1, 2019,” said Vodafone Idea in a statement to Business Standard. “The acute financial stress in the telecom sector has been acknowledged by all stakeholders and a high level Committee of Secretaries headed by the Cabinet Secretary is looking into providing appropriate relief.”

“The telecom sector is highly capital intensive with fast changing technology cycles that require continuing investments,” said Bharti Airtel in a statement to the Economic Times. “It is, therefore, extremely important that the industry remains viable to support the vision of Digital India. Accordingly, Airtel will appropriately increase price offerings in the month beginning December.”

Their nemesis Reliance Jio announced a month ago that it was going to start charging for stuff it had previously given away for free, which led to some muttering. Now that its competitors are also raising their prices it’s clear that the government cash grab will ultimately cost regular people. Vodafone and Bharti will be hoping their customers don’t punish them too much for this move, but it will surely lead to them losing some more business to Jio.