The return on capital in the telecom business is very low and a tariff hike is likely to be in the mid of this year, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said in Barcelona yesterday.

While responding to a PTI query at the Mobile World Congress, Mittal said that the company has a healthy balance sheet and there is no need to raise any more capital.

“Lot of capital has been injected that has made the balance sheet strong but the return on capital of this industry is very low. That needs to change. We are talking of small increments that need to come in the Indian tariff situation. I hope half (by mid) of this year,” Mittal said.

When asked about the impact on people at the bottom of the pyramid, he said that the hike is low compared to the spending people are making on other things.

“Salaries have gone up, rents have gone except one thing. There is no one complaining. People are consuming 30 GB for almost paying nothing. We don’t have more Vodafone type of scenarios in the country.

“We need a robust telecom company in the country. The dream of India is digital, economic growth is fully realised. I think the government is fully conscious, the regulator is conscious and people are also very conscious,” Mittal said, according to a PTI report from Barcelona.

He said that he disagrees that the tariff hike is impacting people at the bottom of the pyramid.

Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Bharti Airtel last month increased the price of its minimum recharge for the 28-day mobile phone service plan by about 57 per cent to Rs 155 in eight circles.

The company stopped its minimum recharge plan of Rs 99, under which it offered 200 MB of data and calls at the rate of Rs 2.5 paise per second.

Bolstered by the price hikes last year, the India Mobile Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of Bharti Airtel soared to Rs 193 during the December quarter of 2022-23 from Rs 163 in December 2021 quarter.

While the short-term ARPU target of Airtel is Rs 200, it is focusing on a medium to long term ARPU target of Rs 300 through price hikes for sustainable operations.

Airtel Crosses 10 mn Customers on 5G Network: Meanwhile,  the telco announced yesterday that its 5G network now has 10 million unique customers in India.

The company intends to offer its Airtel 5G services in every town and key rural areas by the end of March 2024.

Airtel 5G Plus employs a technology “with the widest acceptance in the world and the most developed ecosystem”, according to the company.

This ensures that all 5G smartphones in the country operate seamlessly on the Airtel network.

The company also guarantees to deliver the best experience by providing customers “between 20 to 30 times higher speeds than today coupled with brilliant voice experience and superfast call connect”.

“Airtel became the first and only operator to have one million unique customers on its network within 30 days of its commercial launch in November 2022,” it added.

Last week, the company also established 5G experience zones in all of its retail locations across the country, where customers can test out Airtel 5G Plus.