Telecom premiumisation: How Airtel, Jio are making users pay more without a tariff hike

India’s telecom industry is entering a new phase. For years, the story was about adding subscribers. Now it is about getting each subscriber to pay more. Top brokerages tracking the sector say this shift, known as premiumisation, is already showing up in the numbers, and it is set to define how the industry grows over the next three years.

According to the latest Jefferies report, India’s mobile sector revenues rose 8% year on year in the June quarter of FY27, touching an annualised run rate of about $33 billion. That is a fresh high for the industry, and growth actually improved slightly from the previous quarter, the report noted.