For the first time since India’s mobile revolution began, the gap between prepaid and postpaid average revenue per user (ARPU) has nearly disappeared, as the country’s mass-market prepaid users now spend on par with premium postpaid subscribers, as per government data from 2025.

The ARPU gap that used to be as wide as ₹129, with prepaid at ₹84 and postpaid at ₹244 in 2020, is nearly the same at around ₹194 at prepaid and ₹199 at postpaid in the December-ending quarter of 2025. The levelling signals a shift in the telecom market that could reshape postpaid pricing, premium positioning, and subscriber acquisition strategies.

Narrowing gap

“Particularly, the narrowing gap in ARPUs could lead to a downward trend in terms of mobile number portability in the coming months, compelling operators to consider handsets to offer bundling or even put pressure on operators to take a closer look at their value-additions for postpaid services,” Faisal Kawoosa, Chief Analyst and Founder at Techarc, told businessline.

Attributing the trend to the recent tariff hike, Kawoosa said, “In India, handset bundling never picked up because we had a substantial prepaid base. If the tariff is the same, then operators can raise awareness on this and invite more users to come to postpaid plans to see how handsets can be offered against contract.”

TV Ramanchandran, President at Broadband India Forum (BIF), argued that the trend may in fact encourage some amount of migration from prepaid to postpaid to avoid the hassle of repeated recharges.

“Postpaid is fixed always. If the prepaid advantage of lower prices is not there now, they may switch to postpaid. However, the trend is unlikely to sustain for long. Postpaid customers don’t mind paying a little more,” said Ramachandran.

Analysing the trend, Mahesh Uppal, Director of Com First (India), said prepaid and postpaid customers have different motivations for opting for a plan. Postpaid helps avoid regular recharges, while prepaid ensures transparency and budgeting. When asked whether prepaid users should enjoy the same additional benefits as postpaid users, Uppal said the features of the two plans are very different, with distinct advantages. Even with the same ARPU numbers, the TRAI data does not show granular usage on how prepaid subscribers consume their packages.

“Prepaid does get its share of benefits in a different place. There are no major benefits that postpaid users get over prepaid users, other than avoiding disconnections if they miss a payment. They have some amount of debt they can accrue. Prepaid user has the option of delivering variable revenues to the operator,” he said.

Published on May 1, 2026