Mumbai: Shares of telecom majors Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) were under pressure on Wednesday after Reliance Jio announced a range of postpaid plans with several benefits, to take on both Airtel and Vodafone Idea in the postpaid segment.
Reports says that Shares of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea dipped than 6 per cent on the BSE on Wednesday
Bharti Airtel declined 7 per cent to Rs 437, while Vodafone Idea slipped 8 per cent to Rs 9.47.
In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.5 per cent at 37,926 points, at 11:45 am.
Airtel's stock hit an over seven-month low today, tanking 28 per cent from its record high level of Rs 612, touched on May 20, 2020. It was trading at its lowest level since April 7, 2020.
Around 1.50 p.m. shares of Bharti Airtel on the BSE were trading at Rs 433.50, lower by Rs 37.55 or 7.97 per cent from its previous close.
Vodafone Idea shares were trading at Rs 9.32, lower by 93 paise or 9.07 per cent from its previous close.
With its competitive pricing in the prepaid segment, Jio has already eroded the subscriber base of both the incumbent players over the past four years.
Relioance jio, which began operations in 2016, has emerged as the largest operator due to aggressive marketing and attractive low cost plans. However, less than 1 per cent of its 398 million plus subscribers are in the postpaid segment. In contrast, Airtel and Vi ( Vodafone Idea) have 5.2 and 7.2 per cent of their customers in the postpaid category
The latest offerings under 'JioPostpaid Plus' announced on Tuesday, with free subscription to Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ Hotstar and family plan for the entire family at Rs 250 per connection along with data rollover up to 500 GB and Wifi-Calling in India and abroad among others, is likely to start a tariff war in the postpaid segment.
The monthly tariff charges offered under 'JioPostpaid Plus' are Rs 399, Rs 599, Rs 799, Rs 999 and Rs 1,499 and all the packs come with individual offers and data limit according to the users' requirement.
(With inputs from agencies)