Airtel raises minimum recharge for pre paid users

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Sunday hiked its mandatory minimum recharge for pre-paid customers to Rs 45 from Rs 23. "...it will be mandatory to recharge with a voucher of Rs 45 or above, every 28 days to avail services," company said in a public tice.

new minimum recharge plan will come into effect from Sunday. anuncement pertained to prepaid subscribers of Bharti Airtel and Bharti Hexacom in all service areas, it added.

"In case of n-recharge with a voucher of Rs 45 or above at end of tariff validity period, Airtel reserves right to provide plan benefits in a curtailed manner at its own discretion during grace period of up to 15 days. "In case of n-recharge with a voucher of Rs 45 or above, all services will be suspended post grace period," company said.

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Amid turbulence in debt-laden sector, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal had recently said a combination of rock-bottom tariffs and high consumption is killing telecom industry and sector regulator Trai needs to urgently intervene to strike a balance between needs for protecting investments and consumer interest.

"We are unnecessarily killing this industry in a manner and way that is t conducive for our industry, and that's why we need Trai intervention," Mittal had said.

comments of Airtel chief had come just days after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) initiated talks to prescribe floor price for call and data and also deferred by one year scrapping of charge paid by mobile phone users for calls made to rival networks.

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two moves came as a big boost to old operators like Airtel and Vodafone Idea that are staring at a liability of thousands of crores in unpaid past statutory dues following a Supreme Court ruling. Through ir association, operators had been pitching to policymakers for fixing a floor rate for calls and data.

telecom call and data rates are at present under forbearance or t regulated. But, Trai has w released a consultation paper to fix minimum or floor rates for mobile phone calls and data -- a move that will effectively end regime of free calling and dirt cheap data.

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outcome is likely to lead to furr hike in mobile call and data cost as industry wants aver revenue per user to reach Rs 300 per month from about Rs 125 at present over a period of two years -- better revenue realisation per user will offer a much-needed brear to stressed telecom industry where debt levels have soared to Rs 7.8 lakh crore.

Bharti Airtel had posted a staggering Rs 23,045 crore net loss for second quarter ended September 30, due to provisioning of Rs 28,450 crore in aftermath of SC ruling on statutory dues. According to a government data, statutory liabilities in case of Bharti Airtel add up to nearly Rs 35,586 crore, of which Rs 21,682 crore is licence fee and ar Rs 13,904.01 crore is SUC (spectrum us charges) dues (excluding dues of Teler and Tata Teleservices).

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