Reliance Communications (RCom), India’s third largest telecom service provider by number of subscribers, on Monday increased tariffs by 20% for prepaid subscribers. The company earlier charged a tariff of one paise per second. So, a minute-long call, which cost 60 paise till Sunday night, will cost 72 paise.
The company has about 130 million subscribers across platforms and close to 92% of them are prepaid subscribers. So, about 120 million subscribers will be affected by this decision.
Over and above this, RCom also reduced the number of free calls and discounts under some schemes. Taken together, the increased tariffs and reduced discounts may increase the bills of some subscribers by up to 30%.
Customers of rival telecom companies can also expect higher bills over the coming months. “We have no plans to revise headline tariffs anywhere in India. But reducing discounts is a part of our ongoing strategy,” a spokesperson for Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom company, said. Vodafone and Tata Teleservices spokesperson declined to comment.