Price increases can pose big difficulties in a country where more than half of the population (surveys show more than 60%) uses mobile internet, leading to individuals turning to drastic actions to make their views heard.
Companies in the telecommunications industry are raising the pricing of their plans one after the other. Previously, Bharti Airtel and Voda-Idea raised the prices of their plans.
Because of the epidemic, telecoms had to wait nearly two years before implementing any major tariff increases. The most recent significant pricing increase occurred in December 2019, when all three carriers boosted headline tariffs across the board.
After a two-year delay, Airtel announced a 20-25 percent increase across all of its prepaid plans. A day later, Vodafone Idea raised their prepaid pricing as well.
Things have gotten out of hand, with Jio now joining the ‘price hike’ bandwagon by announcing an increase in their plan costs. The spike has irritated consumers, who have resorted to Twitter to trend the hashtag #BoycottJioVodaAirtel.
On Sunday, Jio, the third telecom company, announced a 20% increase in its pricing.
This action did not sit well with netizens, who flocked to Twitter to express their displeasure. Many Twitterati adopted memes to communicate their opinions.