Airtel Wants to Give Priority to Its Postpaid Users, Govt Sees Red Flags

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel recently launched Priority Postpaid, a new service that delivers a superior network experience to its postpaid users. It is powered by 5G network slicing technology. However, within days of the launch, regulators reportedly raised concerns over whether the offering complies with India’s net neutrality rules.

According to a report by The Economic Times, the Centre and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) are examining the service. Net neutrality norms aims to stop internet service providers (ISP) from discrminating against certain online content.

What Is Airtel’s Priority Postpaid Service?

Airtel launched ‘Priority Postpaid’, a service that uses 5G slicing technology to offer a more consistent network experience to postpaid users. Plans start at ₹449 and go up to ₹1,749 per month, excluding GST.

The company said the service is available across all postpaid plans. 5G network slicing allows telecom operators to create dedicated virtual sections within a network to provide different levels of service quality for specific users or applications.

While the technology has already been used in countries such as the US, UK and Singapore, this is the first time it is being rolled out for mobile consumers in India. Existing postpaid users of Airtel will automatically receive the benefit, while prepaid users can switch through the Airtel app or by visiting Airtel stores.

Reliance Jio is also believed to use network slicing for fixed wireless access services, though not for mobile users.

Why Regulators Are Concerned

According to ET, the government wants to ensure that prepaid users do not see any decline in network quality because of the priority being offered to postpaid customers.

The report said Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has already held meetings with officials regarding the matter. Airtel may also be asked to explain the technical details behind how the network slicing has been implemented.

India currently does not have specific rules governing network slicing. In 2020, Trai recommended traffic management practices for telecom networks under net neutrality norms, but the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has not formally notified them yet.

The recommendations stated that telecom companies should not discriminate or prioritise internet traffic and must clearly inform users about any traffic management practices.

Airtel's Postpaid Push

Following the rollout of 5G services in 2022, telecom operators had asked Trai to clarify whether slicing-based plans violate regulations, but no formal guidance was issued.

ET reported that Airtel’s internal testing showed the technology improves network experience for both prepaid and postpaid users. A source told the newspaper, postpaid users may continue to receive stable connectivity in congested areas, while the experience for other users would remain unchanged.

But, the priority service for postpaid users seems to be part of the company's plan to make the service more attractive. Like other telecom operators, Airtel has been pushing more of its users to opt for postpaid plans, which come with more perks, though at a higher cost. It would also mean higher average revenue per user (ARPU), which for Airtel stands at ₹257.

The push is visible in the user addition in FY26. Airtel’s postpaid user base accounts for just 7.75% of its 373 million mobile users in the country. However, the segment is growing rapidly.

In FY26, the telecom giant reported that its mobile services postpaid customer base grew nearly 12% year-on-year (YoY) to 28.96 million users. This compares with the company’s overall user base growth of around 3.2% YoY in FY26.