India, Aug. 20 -- After Reliance Jio pulled its Rs.249 entry-level prepaid plan from online recharge platforms, Bharti Airtel followed suit on Tuesday and discontinued its own basic plan. According to company insiders and analysts, the move is largely driven by changing user habits towards higher data packs. But it's also a push by telecom operators to boost average revenue per user, or Arpu, a key telecom industry metric. The changes in the entry-level plans by the market leaders indicate the possibility of another increase in headline tariffs shortly, analysts said. For Jio users, the entry-level recharge plan continues to be available through shops and offline partners, but for Airtel users, the plan is being completely shelved, according to people in the know. The Reliance Industries-owned telecom operator offered a Rs.249 plan with 1GB per day data and a 28-day validity. Airtel's entry-level tariff plan with a validity of 28 days offered 1GB per day for Rs.299. Airtel also offered a Rs.249 plan with a validity of 24 days with 1GB data. "The product (is) closing tonight," Airtel said on its website. Vodafone Idea offers a similar Rs.249 plan and a Rs.299 plan with 1GB data per day, including free 5G as an introductory offer at the moment. Vodafone Idea's entry-level plan was listed on the website at the time of publishing this article. Queries emailed to the companies did not elicit any response. The recharge plans of Vodafone Idea and Airtel were priced at a 20% premium compared with Jio's earlier plan. "The move to rejig the tariff plan is a routine exercise and is driven by change in demand towards plans with higher data allowance such as 2 GB plus," an executive at a telecom company said....