Telecom Stocks Outlook
Positive near term; industry-wide tariff hike awaited
This story was originally published at 20:15 IST on 21 August 2026
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NEW DELHI – Analysts are positive on stocks of telecommunications companies in the near term on the back of a widely expected upcoming tariff hike. After discontinuation of select prepaid plans by Bharti Airtel Ltd. last week and the launch of a Prime membership by Reliance Jio this week, Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Pvt. Ltd. continues to expect industry-wide tariff hikes in the December quarter, the brokerage said in a report Tuesday.
Bharti Airtel's discontinuation of the INR 299, INR 579, INR 619, and INR 649 prepaid plans could help the company's blended average revenue per user increase around 2.5% from INR 264 per month in the June quarter, according to Nomura, provided the telecom major is able to retain all its customers affected by the tariff rationalisation.
Earlier this week, Reliance Jio reintroduced its Jio Prime membership at INR 300, which lets subscribers lock in current prices of their preferred plans till September 2027. Nomura believes this is a direct response to Airtel's tariff rationalisation, and is aimed at retaining its own existing subscriber base by giving them tariff guarantee and also targeting Airtel's entry-level subscribers who are unwilling to pay an additional INR 50 per month for the next cheapest daily unlimited plan after discontinuation of the plan priced at INR 299 per month. "We think that Jio's Prime offering makes a tariff hike more likely as it protects its existing base from any likely churn, and also could help win some customers from Bharti who are unwilling to move to the INR 349/month plan due to the discontinuation of the earlier INR299/month plan," it said.
According to Nomura, if Bharti Airtel manages to upgrade subscribers of its INR 299 plan to the plan priced at INR 349 without much churn, Vodafone Idea Ltd. is likely to respond with a similar rationalisation move and capture the uplift in average revenue per user. However, if the churn is high, Vodafone Idea will likely need to respond through a commitment of tariff protection, similar to Jio Prime, to gain a pie of Bharti Airtel customers who decide to port out, the brokerage said.
Next week, the BSE telecommunication index is likely to find support around 3550 points and face resistance around 3750 points, according to Rishabh Srivastava, research analyst at Lakshmishree Investment and Securities. The chart also indicates further support near 3480 points and 3435 points, he said.
On Friday, the key sectoral index ended largely flat at 3630.61 points, with a majority of the constituents ending the session with gains. The index dropped almost 2% over the week.
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Following are the resistance and support levels for key telecom stocks for next week as per calculations based on their prices on the National Stock Exchange:
| Company | Price | Week-on-week change in % |
Resistance | Support |
| Bharti Airtel | 1,946.00 | (-)2.30 | 1,961.50 | 1,932.70 |
| Mahanagar Telephone Nigam | 26.82 | 1.80 | 27.20 | 26.50 |
| Reliance Industries | 1,316.00 | 0.50 | 1,321.30 | 1,305.30 |
| Tata Communications | 1,655.40 | (-)3.70 | 1,696.60 | 1,629.40 |
| Tata Teleservices Maharashtra | 37.78 | (-)2.10 | 38.70 | 37.00 |
| Vodafone Idea | 13.94 | (-)1.20 | 14.20 | 13.80 |
| Index | Levels | |||
| Nifty 50 | 24252.00 | (-)0.50 | 24324.90 | 24170.40 |
| S&P BSE Sensex | 77540.83 | (-)0.60 | 77850.60 | 77291.00 |
End
Reported by Shakshi Jain
Edited by Avishek Dutta
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