(By Apurva Chaudhary & Nikhil Pahwa) Telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea have hiked up 2G data tariffs by almost 30 percent to cover costs and improve margins, reports PTI (via Firstpost, reported first by TelecomTalk), reporting that other operators might follow the suit as well. However, no communication has been sent to customers by Bharti Airtel. Vodafone will offer its 1GB 2G monthly data plan for Rs 125, which earlier was priced at Rs 99 per month, as will Airtel and Idea. Similarly, telecos have also further reduced data caps of other 2G data plans. Last year, Vodafone and Airtel had reduced the data cap to 1GB from 2GB on their 2G data pack worth Rs 99 per month. It's worth noting that telcos have not increased volume based browsing rates on 2G, which remains at 10 paise per 10kb. What's interesting is that telcos now offer volume based 3G data for as low as 3 paise per 10kb, which makes volumes based browsing more cost efficient on 3G. Why telcos are increasing tariffs - 2G Data Plans Not Profitable: In August 2012, in an interview with MediaNama, K Srinivas, President of Bharti Airtel‘s B2C business unit, had mentioned that telecom operators were losing money on 2G data services, saying that 2G data is underpriced, and significantly underpriced. "...tell me one country in the world which gives you 1GB for $2? - Shift from 2G to 3G not sufficient? The idea was perhaps to use 2G data like a…
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