The Indian telecom sector’s post-paid segment reveals that tariff aggression is no longer the best growth strategy for operators.

This trend comes at a time when all eyes turn to the post-paid segment to enable Indian telcos to break even on the expensive 5G Capex cycle underway.

As market watchers await the pricing strategy for telcos for 5G service, paying special attention to RelianceJio, which can continue its modus operandi of pricing aggressively lower than its competitors.

According to The Hindu, Reliance failed to churn subscribers for the past two years in the post-paid segment, even as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea raised their post paid tariffs.

This comes even as Jio’s tariffs are at a 100 percent premium (nearly half) of those paid by subscribers on Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel.

According to the retail post-paid comparison provided by CLSA- an average post-paid plan by Jio as of ₹199 versus Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, whose plans retail at ₹399 per month.

On the other hand, 18 million of Bharti Airtel’s 327 mn subscriber base is on a post-paid subscriber base. Vodafone Idea continues to enjoy the highest post-paid subscriber base of 20 mn out of of its 242 mn subs in the post-paid subscriber segment.