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Jio, Airtel ₹299 to ₹349 Recharge Hike: How Much Extra Revenue Could They Earn?

The ₹349 plan is now confirmed for both Jio and Airtel, but the exact number of subscribers using the old ₹299 plan is not available. Jio's official site shows ₹349 as a 28-day, 2GB/day prepaid plan, while Airtel has discontinued its ₹299 plan and has made ₹349 its cheapest unlimited prepaid option.

Jio and Airtel ₹299 to ₹349 Recharge Plan

Current subscriber base

According to June 2026 TRAI data:

Operator Wireless subscribers
Jio 503.58 million
Airtel 486.80 million
Combined 990.38 million

So together, Jio + Airtel have about 99.04 crore wireless subscribers.

But we cannot assume all 99 crore users are on the ₹299/₹349 plan. They include postpaid, lower-priced prepaid, higher-priced prepaid, inactive connections, etc.

Revenue Impact of ₹299 → ₹349

The increase is:

₹349 - ₹299 = ₹50 per recharge

That's a:

16.72% price increase

If a customer recharges approximately once every 28 days, there are about 13 recharge cycles per year.

Therefore:

₹50 × 13 = ₹650 additional annual revenue for migrated customers

Scenario 1: 25% of users migrate

If 25% of the combined Jio + Airtel base uses this plan:

99.04 crore × 25% = 24.76 crore users

Additional annual revenue:

24.76 crore × ₹650 = ₹16,094 crore

Scenario 2: 40% migrate

99.04 crore × 40% = 39.62 crore users

Additional annual revenue:

39.62 crore × ₹650 = ₹25,754 crore

Scenario 3: 50% migrate

99.04 crore × 50% = 49.52 crore users

Additional annual revenue:

49.52 crore × ₹650 = ₹32,188 crore

Scenario 4: 75% migrate

99.04 crore × 75% = 74.28 crore users

Additional annual revenue:

74.28 crore × ₹650 = ₹48,282 crore

Scenario 5: 100% migrate

This is a theoretical maximum and not a realistic forecast:

99.04 crore × ₹650 = ₹64,275 crore additional annual revenue

Migration to ₹349 Users Extra / month Extra / year
25% 24.76 cr ₹1,238 cr ₹16,094 cr
40% 39.62 cr ₹1,981 cr ₹25,754 cr
50% 49.52 cr ₹2,476 cr ₹32,188 cr
75% 74.28 cr ₹3,714 cr ₹48,282 cr
100%* 99.04 cr ₹4,952 cr ₹64,275 cr

*Theoretical scenario.

What this means for Jio and Airtel?

A more realistic calculation should use only customers actually migrating from ₹299 to ₹349, instead of the whole subscriber base.

For instance, if 30 crore customers across Jio and Airtel migrate:

30 crore × ₹50 × 13 = ₹19,500 crore additional annual gross recharge revenue.

If split equally:

Jio: 15 crore users → ₹9,750 crore/year
Airtel: 15 crore users → ₹9,750 crore/year

This is revenue, not profit. The companies would still have network costs, spectrum costs, taxes, interconnection costs, commissions, and other expenses.

And the ₹349 plan is not exactly the same for all operators: Jio officially describes its ₹349 plan as 28 days with 2GB/day and unlimited calls and Airtel's replacement ₹349 pack also has 2GB/day and unlimited 5G for eligible users.

Bottom line: If even 30 crore users switch from ₹299 to ₹349, Jio and Airtel together could theoretically collect about ₹19,500 crore more per year from the price difference alone, assuming 13 recharge cycles and no customer churn/downgrade.

jio airtel

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