Vodafone Idea Jumps 35%, Bharti Airtel Touches 52-Week High On Tariff Hike Plans

Shares of telecom operators have been surging for the last two sessions. The three main players in the business are seeing their fourth consecutive session of gains on Wednesday.

Shares of Vodafone Idea rose as much as 34.71 percent to an intraday high of Rs 8.15, while Bharti Airtel and RIL touched new 52-week highs.

Bharti Airtel: Quotes, News

BSE 1835.4031.8 (-1.73%)

NSE 1834.9032.8 (-1.79%)

Reliance Industries: Quotes, News

BSE 1412.551.1 (-0.08%)

NSE 1413.101.3 (-0.09%)

Shares of Bharti Airtel rose 3.1 percent to Rs 452.95, before slipping to losses. The Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) stock was dazzling on the stock exchange, hitting its new all-time high of Rs 1,572.40, pushing BSE's benchmark index, Sensex, to its record high of 40,816.38 points.

On Monday, Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel announced their plans to raise tariffs for the viability of operations amid mounting dues, starting December.

"The telecom sector is highly capital intensive with fast-changing technology cycles that require continuing investments. It is, therefore, extremely important that the industry remains viable to support the vision of Digital India," Bharati Airtel said in a statement.

Vodafone Idea said, "The acute financial stress in the telecom sector has been acknowledged by all stakeholders and a high-level Committee of Secretaries (CoS) headed by the Cabinet Secretary is looking into providing appropriate relief."

Following suit, Reliance Jio Infocomm, RIL's telecom arm, on Tuesday, said that it would raise tariffs in the "next few weeks" and will be taking other steps as per the regulator's recommendations to strengthen the industry and sustain investments.