Vodafone Idea Ltd.

In a setback to the consumers, Idea Cellular has increased their call tariff rates by nearly 100 per cent. Going for a steep hike, Idea has doubled the call rates from Re 1.2 per second to Rs 2 per second. The substantial increase in rates hints of pricing power returning to the telecom sector, with incumbents likely to have more flexibility going forward.

Besides Idea, Bharti Airtel also has hiked call rates from Re 1 per minute to Rs 2 per minute. As per Bharti, the hike was inevitable and revision in rates is in line with increasing costs. Further towards this development, the plan to hike tariff rates have already been submitted with the telecom regulator TRAI.

Idea Cellular, an AV Birla group company, provides Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)-based wireless service at the pan-India level; it is present in all 22 telecom circles.