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

[Sushubh]

Got this message on vodafone sim today:

Dear customer, this is a service message from Vodafone. This is to inform you that we have discontinued talktime and bonus card recharges and launched a new and exciting portfolio of All-Rounder recharges. Please find more information here: www.vodafone.in/di1

Even on idea, while I was trying to recharge a friend's prepaid number, the only option was to recharge with a plan that had a fixed validity.

And on Airtel too. @mhsabir noticed it recently. It was even on r/india this week.

Airtel is threatening to block my outgoing calls if I don't recharge, while I still have balance . Is this even legal? : india

 

[anubhav11]

Yes. They all are going for fixed monthly commitment to increase their ARPU. BTw JIO introduced it first

 

[Sushubh]

Rip second connection.

 

[anubhav11]

I have to keep my brother's sim active as he lives in dubai, so now have to recharge it regularly, instead of small recharge and few calls as per terms to keep a connection active

 

[anubhav11]

Thank you jio for all the good and bad things you taught your competitors🤣

 

[ijsa]

I think with this.... Jio will again be the beneficiary....

Now I guess, the cheapest plan is Rs.27/ 29 (Voda/ Airtel) which offers 500Mb data for 28days.
The other is Rs.35 which gives talktime of Rs.26.66 and 100Mb data for 28 days for both Voda & Airtel.
This is a clear case of cartelisation and TRAI should take appropriate actions.
Both operators have launched similar plans and at the same time....

 

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[pothi]

Noticed it a couple of weeks ago too. Now, for the second connection, I have BSNL. I wish it doesn't follow the herd.

 

[Deleted member 63558]

Even if they do it, They will loose a lot of connections. Fine with them? Okay with us.

There will be a nice decline in the connections.

 

[pothi]

Decline in port outs would be minimal, as BSNL is the only alternative.

 

[anubhav11]

Noticed it a couple of weeks ago too. Now, for the second connection, I have BSNL. I wish it doesn't follow the herd.

Yes same here, hope bsnl doesn't follow this

 

[Smh]

but jio still doesn't deactivate connection for not recharging

 

[raj2007]

INR 10 recharge for Airtel is still working. I'm using it for the past couple of months. Don't know when it's going to end.

 

[anubhav11]

but jio still doesn't deactivate connection for not recharging

Because currently they need to show their subscribers strength

 

[ijsa]

Yes Jio does disconnect and allocates the number (may be after certain time) to new users....

 

[itzmynet]

hope bsnl doesn't follow this

bsnl already requires you to do either a plan recharge or atleast 200 rs talktime recharge every 6 six months. but one advantage is you can do a plan recharge using remaining balance.