Airtel, Idea and Vodafone seems to have killed unlimited/long-term validity prepaid recharges

[anubhav11]

Exactly.. that plan voucher is valid for 6 months but the unused balance does not end after 6 months, we can just renew plan voucher costing from 35,36 for 6 months and keep continuing our connection. No minimum topup recharge required as no lifetime validity

 

[Sushubh]

airtel has noT allowed recharge from balance in a long time. i still have around 450 unused from a 1000 recharge for like 2 years now.

 

[Aakash Malhotra]

i am on vodafone. just got the message saying that they have discontinued talktime recharge packs and launched new recharge packs.

i only recharge my phone with 50 rs like every month or so and thankfully they have recharge pack for my number that costs 35 rs and gives 25 rs talktime.


but this is really scummy tactics.

they are just following jios path.

in jio if you want to have 28 days of validity and talktime you have to recharge with a min of 100 rs because thats how much the base plan costs.


i dont see them rolling back this change unless there is mass protest from people.

 

[igloo]

Basically they want to be primary sim on users phone.

 

[dextermorgan]

but jio still doesn't deactivate connection for not recharging

IT does. source: me

 

[SVK]

I had recharges my Idea sim for Rs 100 and using it for last 8 months, needs to see how long it goes. But I hope it does not get block as its my primary contact number for Bank, Aadhar, WhatsApp, etc all e-commerce websites.

 

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[cooltexas60s]

@SVK , Dont worry even if you surpass your validity for a month and do not recharge as your no. will still remain on your name for 90 days. But yes outgoing will be barred at the end of valididty expiry and after 15 days of grace period all services will be suspended. But you can still recharge again within next 90 days to retain your no. After 90 days operator reserves the right to recycle your no. to other subscriber as per DOT mandate. While many people are speculating various reasons for operators taking this step but original reason is IUC charge. Lot of feature phone and even secondary sim owners are using their sim for incoming and for ages and do not recharge with even 10 Rs. . , calling operator pays 0.6 Rs for every incoming on those no. and it has been observed that mostly folks used it for incoming and banks OTP and earlier they were getting healthy 0.12 Rs and it is halved now and will become Zero in 2020 so operators do not want these users on its network as it doesn't get them any revenue but they have to maintain network to feed them and comes under call drops count...

 

[SVK]

Airtel, Voda-Idea bring minimum validity packs to boost profitability - ET Telecom

Market leader Vodafone Idea and No.2 Airtel have introduced a 28-day validity period on a host of sub- Rs 100 prepaid packs — such as Rs 35, Rs 65 and Rs 95 — which means consumers who don’t recharge on these plans would see outgoing calls blocked in 30 days and incoming in 45 days.
...
“Airtel and VIL seem to be finally saying enough is enough by introducing minimum recharge plans across India to boost ARPU and don’t seem to mind losing some freeloaders who were anyways not generating any cash for them,”

 

[geek]

Bharti Airtel Ltd has decided that ultra low-spending customers, those that buy recharge plans costing less than ₹35 a month, are just not worth the trouble, as India’s second-largest telecom operator charts out a new strategy to take on rival Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, which brought industry tariffs to rock bottom. The New Delhi-based company believes such a step will reduce the number of marginal customers, rein in selling, general and administrative expenses and help focus attention on improving services to better-paying users.

Airtel charts out a new strategy to take on Reliance Jio

 

[Sushubh]

this is from my local vodafone store.

would have been nice if they had a six month or even a one year plan. i mean paying 35 bucks every 28 days is annoying. just charge 500 bucks for a year and let the connection survive.

 

[zerosleeping]

My sentiments exactly!!

I have a few Airtel and Vodafone nos for Mumbai and Karnataka circle which are just
used for OTP's and incoming calls when in Mumbai ocassionally.

As of now my validity is still 2037. Hopefully they see sense and come out with 6 monthly
and yearly plans, since jio has a 49 per 28 days plan with the Jio phone.

 

[dextermorgan]

this is from my local vodafone store.

would have been nice if they had a six month or even a one year plan. i mean paying 35 bucks every 28 days is annoying. just charge 500 bucks for a year and let the connection survive.

yup. thats why I revived my jio connection and recharged with 1700rs plan. no tension for one year

 

[Sushubh]

Bharat Bandh: Vodafone Idea, Airtel to switch off 200 million users soon - The Financial Express

 

[igloo]

Two of my airtel sim have outgoing barred. I kept them for relatives visiting from abroad, good sounding nos.
We don't have bsnl as alternative. Mtnl barely exist as network.
Doesn't work even with 900mhz booster or if i stand in open space.

 

[Sushubh]

Airtel, Vodafone Idea get Trai call over minimum recharge plans - Livemint

In its letter, Trai has asked operators to duly inform subscribers within three days in a clear and transparent manner the date on which the current validity of an existing plan would expire and the manner in which the subscriber can opt for available plans including minimum recharge plan using subscriber’s available prepaid account balance. Mint has seen a copy of the letter. Trai also met the two operators on Monday to discuss the issue.

“Till such time operators should not discontinue services of such customers who have balance in prepaid accounts equal to minimum recharge amount,” Trai said in the letter.