Well, for Bharti Airtel subscribers, the party definitely is over. Last week, the country�s largest mobile operator hiked its mobile tariffs on some plans by 20 per cent across six circles which constitute over 37 per cent of its wireless revenues. This includes pre-paid calls on both their network as well as calls to phones on other ones.

But new operators are divided on their approach. No one wants to divulge their plans but at least one of them has said that this could just be the opportunity they�ve been looking for. �With around 170 million subscribers, Bharti might not be looking for more customers as it is looking at consolidation of its subscriber base and better revenues, but we are different because our networks are empty,� says an executive director of one of the new operators. �So we should go whole hog and not cut tariffs,� he adds.