India's telecom space has undergone significant changes, with the number of players decreasing from 12 to a select few.
Telcos are now focusing on increasing average revenue per user (ARPU) by bundling subscriptions, value-added services, and network-level features.
Reliance Jio's 'premium 5G' services offer faster speeds to prioritized customers who have subscribed to add-on packs or services.
Bharti Airtel has introduced network-level spam protection, marking incoming text messages as 'suspected spam' to warn users.
With the rise of 5G rollout and network improvements, telcos are factoring in the cost of bundling into bill plans and recharge packs.
However, customers who don't want extra layers are left with little choice, with plans often being more expensive over a longer period.
The death of budget plans has been a slow and quiet one, with Airtel's ₹799 plan now requiring ₹899 for the same validity tenure.
The value of data has significantly reduced in the last few years, with 1GB of data lasting a week in 2016 but now being consumed quickly through social media scrolling.
Telcos are driving up ARPU metrics by offering unlimited 5G plans, with customers having no choice but to keep paying.
