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Airtel, Idea jack up call tariffs
Tribune News Service

free minutes cut Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular have also slashed promotional benefits Reports said Airtel has cut free minutes by 10% to 25% and increased price of STVs in the range of Rs 5 to Rs 15 Idea Cellular has withdrawn some promotional offers in various circles

New Delhi, January 23
Barely weeks after raising 2G data service charges, some telecom operators today announced an increase in rates of special tariff vouchers (STVs) and decrease in free minutes usage, indicating that a direct increase in call rates is on the anvil.

Two of the country’s top GSM operators — Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular — have slashed promotional benefits. Reports said Airtel has reduced free minutes by 10 to 25 per cent and has increased the price of STVs in the range of Rs 5 and Rs 15 while Idea Cellular has also withdrawn some promotional offers in various circles.

An Airtel spokesperson said the revision in prices is in line with increasing costs. He, however, said: “There is no change in the headline tariff. In most circles, we have reduced promotional benefits and free minutes on both acquisition and existing usage.”

This would mean that there is no direct increase in voice tariffs, but a signal that the same was not too far away keeping in mind the present situation of the market and the falling profit ratios of the operators. Analysts did not rule out the possibility of other operators following suit.

There was a statement from Vodafone which indicated that it was also going to take some measures to improve its financial condition.