NEW DELHI, Nov 13: Bharti Airtel founder and chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal on Thursday backed higher mobile service tariffs, saying telecom companies should earn an average of Rs 350 a month from each customer.
Mittal said current tariffs were insufficient to meet the rising cost of network operations and new infrastructure. Fuel, electricity, employee salaries and administrative expenses had increased, he said.
At an average monthly spend of Rs 350, customers would pay about Rs 10 to Rs 12 a day for banking, education, UPI transactions, health information, government services, social media and entertainment, Mittal said.
He said he had considered average monthly revenue of Rs 300 per customer adequate around 10 years ago, but inflation had made that amount insufficient. He did not specify a timeline for achieving the Rs 350 target.
Infrastructure investment
Mittal said India needed to substantially expand its telecom infrastructure. China had more than 10 lakh mobile towers, while India had around 3.5 lakh towers, he said, adding that the number of towers in the country needed to at least double.
He said major investment was also needed to expand fibre networks, submarine cables and other digital infrastructure. Telecom companies had spent several lakh crore rupees on spectrum purchases and 5G network rollout, but new revenue streams from 5G had not emerged as expected, he said.
He said robust telecom infrastructure was essential for the growth of the digital economy, as services such as UPI, banking, healthcare, education and e-commerce depended on telecom networks.
Airtel's average revenue per user rose to Rs 271 in the September quarter of 2026 from Rs 256 a year earlier. Mittal's proposed monthly average of Rs 350 is about 29 per cent higher than the current figure.
Telecom tariffs in India were last increased in June 2024, when prices of various recharge plans rose by 10 to 25 per cent. Mittal said telecom tariffs in India remained lower than in many other countries.
