Airtel, Vodafone and Idea are facing the heat from Jio as they may lose upper-end customers

Mukesh Ambani has made things tougher for top telecom players Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea, who will now have to scramble to save upper-end customers.

Ambani, yet again, unleashed a slew of Reliance Jio offers and rolled out data and voice offers at dirt cheap prices.

As per industry experts, this move will affect the high-end customers of Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea as they might take up Reliance Jio for its lucrative offers. Already, people have using Reliance Jio as the second SIM.

"Holding on to these upper-end customers will be pivotal for the big three to remain profitable in the coming quarters as these users generate over 60% of their revenues," a senior industry executive, who did not wish to be named, told ET.

READ ALSO: 15 points Mukesh Ambani made while unleashing Reliance Jio freebies, Prime membership

However, slashing prices can be a double whammy for the top telecom players as they will have to give away a major part of the revenues.

"Any effort to match Jio's tariffs could progressively shave off nearly 40-50% of the revenue that Airtel, Vodafone and Idea typically generate from upper-tier customers, which would hit the overall ARPU and hurt both top-line and bottom-line,” an executive of a leading telco told ET.

ET reported the upper-end customers on an average generate monthly ARPUs in the Rs 700-1,000 range, and that could fall sharply if the incumbent biggies are forced to reduce the price points of their heavy data packs.

Rajan Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India, told ET that incumbents would definitely come up with competing price points to hold on to their valued, high-end customers.

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