Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular edge higher

Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular rose 0.14 percent to 1.06 percent at 10:36 IST on BSE on reports Vodafone has improved pre-paid data tariff for 2G & 3G services in Delhi-NCR by up to 47 percent and MTS hiked rates of post-paid data pack by 8 percent.

Bharti Airtel (up 0.14 percent at Rs. 415.05) and Idea Cellular (up 1.06percent at Rs 172.40) edged higher.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 52.93 points or 0.2 percent at 26,478.23.

According to the reports, Vodafone has also made changes in most of the pre-paid plans and has also condensed validity of various packs. The increase in tariffs comes in aftermath of March spectrum auction wherein telcos had paid around Rs 1.1 lakh crore to acquire airwaves, as per reports.

In a bid to enhance profitability, telecom firms have been cutting back on discounts and freebies. Earlier, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular had improved the tariffs for mobile data.

Bharti Airtel’s consolidated net profit rose 30.5 percent to Rs 1255.30 crore on 3.6 percent growth in net sales to Rs 23015.50 crore in Q4 March 2015 over Q4 March 2014.

Bharti Airtel is a most important global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa.

On combined basis, Idea Cellular’s net profit rose 59.7percent to Rs 941.77 crore on 20.4 percent growth in net sales to Rs 8397.22 crore in Q4 March 2015 over Q4 March 2014.

Idea Cellular is the third largest wireless operator in India. It is part of Aditya Birla Group.