Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar''s Hutch raise local call, SMS rates by 20 per cent

Bharti Airtel and Hutch (now Vodafone Essar) have increased local voice call and SMS charges by 20 per cent Rs1.20 per minute for prepaid customers, constitute about 80 per cent of both the operators' customer base, up from Re1, within their own network with effect from today.

The two mobile services operators have also increased local SMS rates to Rs1.20 per message in the prepaid and post-paid segments from Re1.

Hutch-Essar and Bharti Airtel had early this month raised their STD rates. Hutch had raised its STD rates to other networks to Rs2.65 from Rs2.40, while Bharti Airtel had raised it Rs2.65 for prepaid customers and to rs 2.40 for its post paid customers in Delhi from a common rate of Rs2.

The two companies say that the growing subscriber base has made it difficult to maintain networks to support the growing user base without raising tariffs.

Other operators like Idea, MTNL, BSNL, Reliance and Tata may also revise their rates.