NEW DELHI: The country's leading telecom companies Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio are preparing for the fourth tariff hike. The move by companies to increase mobile phone rates is after the new government came to power. It is reported that there will be an increase of up to 25 percent.

The reasons for the sharp increase in call rates are the steep rise in operational costs and the huge investment required to roll out 5G services across the country. The companies say that the tariff increase is necessary in view of the huge liability in the spectrum auction and the huge investment made to improve the infrastructure.

Airtel is likely to raise rates in the first phase. Then other companies are also planning to increase the charges. India currently has the lowest competitive revenue per customer (ARPU) in the global telecom market. They also say that if the tariff is not raised, the operation of the telecom companies will be in crisis.

Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal is of the view that telecom services in India cannot be provided profitably unless the average monthly revenue from a customer exceeds Rs 300. Currently Airtel's ARPU is only Rs 209. Reliance Jio earns Rs 182 and Vodafone Idea earns Rs 146 per month on average.