Mobile call, data to cost more from December as Vodafone Idea, Airtel hike rates
New Delhi, Nov 18: Faced with intense competition and unprecedented statutory dues, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea on Monday announced a hike in mobile phone call and data charges from December saying the increase was warranted for viability of their business.
First Vodafone Idea in a statement announced plans to raise tariffs for the first time in 3 years only to be followed by a similarly worded statement minutes later from Airtel.
The two, however, did not quantify the increase in rates but said that the hike will be effective beginning next month.
Vodafone Idea last week reported consolidated loss of Rs 50,921 crore - highest ever loss posted by any Indian corporate - for the second quarter ended September 30, on account of liability arising out of the Supreme Court order in the adjusted gross revenue case.
"To ensure that its customers continue to enjoy world class digital experiences, Vodafone Idea will suitably increase the prices of its tariffs effective December 1, 2019," Vodafone Idea said in a statement.
The company at present provides monthly mobile services at starting price of Rs 24 without data, and plans with data service starts from Rs 33 onwards. Airtel monthly plan starts at Rs 24 onward, while scheme with data begins from Rs 35.
Vodafone Idea has last week said that its ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on obtaining relief from the government and positive outcome of the proposed legal remedy, including a review petition before the apex court.
Following the apex court judgement, Bharti Airtel too raised similar concerns.
"The telecom sector is highly capital intensive with fast changing technology cycles that require continuing investments. It is, therefore, extremely important that the industry remains viable to support the vision of Digital India. Accordingly, Airtel will appropriately increase price offerings in the month beginning December," Bharti Airtel said.
Bharti Airtel, which posted the highest ever loss of Rs 23,045 crore last week, said that it understands that telecom regulator Trai is likely to initiate a consultation for bringing rationality in pricing in the Indian mobile sector, which has been operating at prices that have been eroding its viability.
The Sunil Bharti Mittal led firm made provision of amount aggregating Rs 28,450 crore after the AGR verdict.
Vodafone Idea has estimated liability of Rs 44,150 crore post the apex court order, and made provisioning of Rs 25,680 crore in the second quarter this fiscal.
"The acute financial stress in the telecom sector has been acknowledged by all stakeholders and a high level Committee of Secretaries (CoS) headed by the Cabinet Secretary is looking into providing appropriate relief," Vodafone Idea said.
Vodafone India and Idea Cellular merged their telecom business to handle the tariff war in the sector, triggered by the new entrant Reliance Jio in 2016.
The merged entity Vodafone Idea came into existence on August 31 last year as the biggest telecom operator in the country with 408 million mobile customers.
However, the financial woes for the company did not end and the company lost over 100 million mobile subscribers since merger due to the cut throat tariff war.
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, prices of mobile data have fallen drastically by about 95 per cent to Rs 11.78 per gigabyte (GB).
Mobile calling rates dipped by about 60 per cent to about 19 paise per minute between June 2016 - December 2017.
Reliance Jio is offering unlimited voice calls in all it mobile services phone plan.
Promoter firm Vodafone, which holds majority stake of 45.39 per cent in Vodafone Idea, has said that the group will not infuse any further equity investment in the Indian telecom venture and reportedly similar stand has been taken by the Aditya Birla Group. This leaves the company with no other option but to support operation from internal resources.
Vodafone Idea said it has the largest spectrum footprint and by accelerating its network integration, the company is rapidly expanding both its coverage and capacity and is well on track to offer 4G services to 1 billion Indian citizens by March 2020.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Indigo fiasco: B'luru airport suffers disruptions; over 102 services cancelled, KIAL issues advisory
Bengaluru: IndiGo’s service disruption at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport continued for the fourth consecutive day, leading to the cancellation of over 102 flights on Friday. Many passengers were stranded for more than 12 hours.
According to reports, 52 arrivals and 50 departures were cancelled.
Passengers expressed widespread anger over IndiGo’s lack of proper communication and shared videos and updates on social media highlighting the chaotic situation.
Some users alleged that the airline intentionally cancelled flights to indirectly pressure the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) into rolling back the newly introduced ‘weekly rest’ clause under the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.
A user wrote, “An airline that had two years to meet global standards managed to blackmail the government and force a rollback. What about passenger safety and pilot health? The problem is we will keep flying IndiGo because there is no option.”
An airline company that had two years to meet global standards has managed to blackmail the government and forced it to toll back.
What about passenger safety? Pilot health? Problem is we will keep flying indigo because there is no option pic.twitter.com/cpbwf4SM5D
— Snehesh Alex Philip (@sneheshphilip) December 5, 2025
Another commented, “So the blackmail by @IndiGo6E worked. What about the problems faced by passengers? No accountability?”
So the blackmail by @IndiGo6E worked. What about the problems faced by the passengers. No accountability?? pic.twitter.com/9DNxmH8b0I
— CA Brindavan Giri (@BrindavanG) December 5, 2025
The widespread cancellation came owing to pilot and crew crunch after the DGCA introduced crew shortages triggered by the rollout of the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.
A social media user, Nitin Malpani shared a video about this and said, "What are you IndiGo staff doing? We have been at Bangalore airport since 8 pm last night till now. Are you playing with children, elderly and sick people just to change the work schedule of the staff?"
A video of exhausted passengers singing bhajans while waiting at the airport has also gone viral.
Meanwhile, at a time when Indigo cancelled flights to major cities, ticket prices of other airlines sharply surged.
As per reports, the New Delhi–Chennai one-way fare touched nearly ₹66,000, while fares on the Mumbai and Kolkata routes also crossed ₹38,000.
A passenger reported that an Air India ticket from Bengaluru to New Delhi for Saturday evening had risen to nearly ₹34,000, leaving many with no choice but to pay increased prices.
Bengaluru airport issues advisory
In a statement issued on Friday, Bengaluru airport authorities said that IndiGo flights to Mumbai and Delhi had been cancelled and advised passengers to check their flight status directly with the airline before arriving at the airport.
They added that their teams were working with IndiGo and other stakeholders to decrease inconvenience and assist passengers affected by the disruption.
ಇಂಡಿಗೋ ಮೂಲಕ ಕೆಂಪೇಗೌಡ ಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ವಿಮಾನ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಿಂದ ಪ್ರಯಾಣಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಪ್ರಯಾಣಿಕರು ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು ಈ ಸೂಚನೆಯನ್ನು ಪರಿಶೀಲಿಸಿ. ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸಹಕಾರಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು.#ಪ್ರಯಾಣಸಲಹೆ #ಇಂಡಿಗೋ #ಕೆಂಪೇಗೌಡಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯವಿಮಾನನಿಲ್ದಾಣಬೆಂಗಳೂರು #ಬೆಂಗಳೂರುವಿಮಾನನಿಲ್ದಾಣ #ವಿಮಾನ pic.twitter.com/SLV6Nl69B9
— ಕೆಂಪೇಗೌಡ ಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ವಿಮಾನ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು (@blrairport_kn) December 5, 2025
Need a sanitary pad for my daughter !
A video of a distressed father pleading for a sanitary pad for his daughter amid the chaos has gone viral across social media platforms, sparking outrage on social media.
In the video, the man can be heard saying, “My daughter needs a pad. Blood is coming out.” He is also seen repeatedly requesting a female staffer for a sanitary pad, but she allegedly refuses.
The video has gone viral, with strong reactions from netizens.
"Need sanitary pad for my daughter," a visibly angry man could be heard venting at the Indigo crew amid hundreds of flight cancellations leaving passengers, in dire need of basic amenities, stranded for hours. pic.twitter.com/TRlMA27DVS
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) December 5, 2025
One user wrote, “What kind of airports do we have where even basic emergency services are unavailable?”
What kind of airports we have where we didn't even have basic emergency services.
— Himanshu (@himanshukr2841) December 5, 2025
Another commented, “Welcome to the world’s fourth-largest economy, where one airline brings the aviation ministry to its knees, and ministers get away with zero accountability.”
Welcome to the worlds fourth economy where one airlines brings the aviation ministry to it’s knees @PMOIndia And the ministers get away with zero accountability
— Pintoo Ganguly (@pintooganguly) December 5, 2025
What caused the IndiGo fiasco?
The disruption at India’s largest carrier, which has a control of over 60% of the domestic market comes after crew shortages, which were triggered by the rollout of DGCA’s new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.
According to a NDTV report, the airline has said that it expects to completely restore its normal services within three to four days.
However, following chaos at major airports, DGCA rolled back the newly implemented FDTL norms on Friday.
