Is Vodafone Idea planning to raise Mobile Services Rates again? Are the Vi Subscribers in for yet another hike in prices? Shocking news ahead for users?

According to the latest announcement by Vi CEO Ravinder Takkar, there is a possibility that service rates will be increased this year as well. It is quite unfortunate that the user base for the telcos has drastically reduced. This is not a healthy trend and has raised concern among the officials.

• Fast Facts
• Vodafone Idea has suffered a loss of Rs 4,532.1 crore, with an outstanding debt of Rs. 1,97,480 crores.
• Vi has adopted measures aimed at bringing the company back into action.
• The decision to convert debt into equity is hopefully going to be profitable.
• The Government has also taken steps that are likely to reduce the burden of the telcos.

What Would Vi Decide?

Amongst the shocking news, CEO Ravinder Takkar, however, has made it clear that the final decision will be made only after evaluating the market reaction to the price hike that has already been put in place last November.

“We would expect that it is possible that there could be another price hike in 2022 but certainly at some point the price hike will take place. The last one was almost 2 years earlier which I believe is a bit long. We certainly would expect less than two years but in 2022 we will have to see how quickly these prices get embedded. Probably, it could be 2023 as well,” Takkar said.

Another price hike is not something that subscribers will be pleased about. So what led to such a decision? Despite the price increase in November 2021, the ARPU has reduced to Rs115 when it was Rs 121 last year.Last week, Vodafone Idea has reported that the consolidated loss now stands at Rs. 7,230.9 crore. The consolidated revenue has sadly come down to Rs. 9,717.3 crore when it was Rs 10,894.1 crore earlier.

In just a year, the Vi user base has come down from 26.98 crores to 24.72 crores.

Considering all this and much more, unless there is another option to derive revenue for the company, Vi will have no other option but to raise the service rates shortly. Let’s wait and see what the outcome is going to be.