Crores of mobile users will get a shock after the elections! Why is your bill going to increase by 25%

After the Lok Sabha elections, mobile phone users may face a big shock. The process of Lok Sabha elections is going on in the country in seven phases. After the last phase of voting on June 1, counting of votes is to take place on June 4. According to the news published in Economic Times, after the elections, the bills of mobile phone users may increase by about 25 percent. A news published in ET said that telecom companies are preparing for the fourth round of tariff increase in recent years. After this step of the companies, the income of telecom companies will increase.

A report by brokerage firm Axis Capital said companies are expected to improve profits following increased competition and large-scale 5G investments. The telecom operator is expected to grow by 25% in the coming times due to government support. The report also said that although the increase in prices may seem high, it is a normal thing for people living in cities and villages. In fact, people are using more internet data and charges are likely to come down.

People living in cities used to spend 3.2 percent of their total expenditure on telecom, this will increase to 3.6 percent. With this, the expenditure on telecom of people living in villages will increase from 5.2 percent to 5.9 percent. The report also said that if telecom companies increase the price of basic plans by 25 percent, their average revenue per user (ARPU) will increase by 16 percent. This means that Airtel's earnings from each user will increase to Rs 29 and Jio's earnings from each user will increase to Rs 26.

Jio's average revenue per subscriber (ARPU) for the quarter ending March 2024 was reported at Rs 181.7. Bharti Airtel's ARPU for the October-December 2023 quarter was Rs 208 and Vodafone Idea (Vi)'s ARPU was Rs 145. Piyush Vash, TMT Industry Leader, Deloitte, South Asia, says that telecom companies will change the price of phone recharge packs to compensate for the cost of 5G. According to him, with 10-15 percent increase in the price of the plan, the ARPU of the companies can increase by about Rs 100.

Bharti Airtel and Jio will benefit the most

Wash also said that it is expected that customers will not leave telecom companies. Experts believe that Bharti Airtel and Jio will benefit the most from the increase in the price of mobile recharge packs. According to a report by Kotak Institutional Equities, the rates had increased by 14-102% in the last three tariff hikes. Both the telecom companies have increased their ARPU by 58% and 33% respectively between September 2019 and September 2023.