Airtel, Idea hike post-paid data tariff by 20%

Telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular, which have a few months ago increased data tariffs for pre-paid customers in Delhi, have now hiked charges for post-paid customers by around 20 pper cent in various circles, including the national capital.

Airtel has raised data tariffs in Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP (East) and UP (West) circles, while Idea Cellular has done so in Delhi, Punjab and UP (West).

Post-paid customers of both operators in these circles will now have to pay Rs300 for 1GB 3G data usage, against Rs250 earlier.

The country's three operators - Airtel, Idea and Vodafone - had raised pre-paid data tariffs for 2G and 3G services in Delhi by up to 47 per cent a few months ago.

Vodafone, however, has not yet raised data charges in the post-paid category and continues to offer 1GB 3G data for Rs250.

Telecom operators started increasing tariffs since the Rs101,000 crore acquisition of airwaves in the March auction of airwaves.

Idea was the first telecom operator to increase data tariffs, followed by Airtel and Vodafone. Telcos have also been cutting back on discounts and freebies.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea had increased data as well as call tariffs last year as well.

Operators generally opt to inform customers of increase tariffs by placing information in their web sites. They generally inform their post-paid customers about change in rates of services through SMS before their next billing cycle starts.

Pre-paid customers, who constitute over 90 per cent of telco's customer base, get to know about the rates revision when they go to recharge their mobile phones or through company websites.

Telecom operators are required to report change in tariffs to sectoral regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).