Airtel hikes price of 2G and 3G online data packs

Bharti Airtel has withdrawn the discounts it was offering on its 2G and 3G mobile internet packs sold online.  The withdrawn of discounts will bring the prices of these online internet data packs at par with the internet data packs sold offline throughout the retail stores in the country.

One of the Airtel's spokesperson told PTI that there is a slight change in few of the online prepaid data packs owing to the discontinuation of discounted offers . Besides this Airtel has also raised prices of 10 data packs.

For instance, earlier, the company used to offer 2 GB of 2G data for Rs 199 with a validity of 30 days if the recharge was done online. It has now been changed to 1.25 GB of data with 28 days validity.

In case of 3G, the company is now offering 1 GB of 3G data with 28 days validity for Rs 255 against charge of Rs 249 for the same data usage with 30 days validity. Last week, Idea Cellular hiked mobile data rates by up to 100 per cent for pre-paid customers in the NCR region, becoming the first telecom operator to raise the tariff after Rs 1.1 lakh crore spectrum auction in March.

In a bid to improve profitability, telcos have been cutting back on discounts and freebies. Last year also, firms including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea had increased data as well as call tariffs.

After the March spectrum auction, industry associations had said there would be hike in tariffs as operators have to meet the commitment to the government.