Bharti Airtel reduces incoming validity to seven days after prepaid recharge expires

Airtel reduces the validity of the incoming calls to seven days from earlier 15 days after expiration of a tariff plan. The minimum recharge amount to keep incoming and outgoing service active is priced at Rs 35.

Airtel has reduced the incoming validity after the prepaid plan expiry to seven days from earlier 15 days.

Reliance Jio is aiming to gain subscribers with cheaper prepaid and postpaid plans but Bharti Airtel has consolidated its packs for higher Average Revenue per User (ARPU), which is a key metric in the telecom industry. Following the ARPU approach, Airtel moves to reduce the incoming validity after prepaid plan expiry to seven days, reported TelecomTalk.

This means that Airtel prepaid users will not be able to receive incoming voice calls seven days after the validity of their tariff packs expires. Such users will also not be able to make outgoing voice calls from the day plan ends, even if they have talk time balance left in their account.

Last year, Airtel introduced the Minimum Recharge scheme, which forced Airtel prepaid customer to recharge with a combo plan within 15 days of recharge expiry. In case they weren’t able to recharge in the said period, they could not receive incoming voice calls.

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Also read: BSNL mobile prepaid plans: Comparing offers, prices, and data

The new move from Bharti Airtel is not something new but a reduction in the incoming validity from 15 days to seven days. The minimum recharge scheme works on both Airtel and Vodafone Idea networks. While Airtel has reduced the incoming validity from 15 days to seven days, it’s not clear whether Vodafone Idea followed the route.

Minimum recharge of Rs 35 for incoming/outgoing

Under new rules, while the outgoing facility ends as soon as the validity period for a tariff pack ends, the incoming facility for Bharti Airtel users will cease to exist seven days later. So, Airtel subscribers will have to keep recharging every month to make and receive calls.

Also read | Airtel, Vodafone’s prepaid and postpaid plans more expensive than Jio: Report

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The minimum recharge to keep the incoming and outgoing calls active is priced at Rs 35. The prepaid combo recharge offers 100MB of 3G/ 4G data along with a talk time of Rs. 26.66. Users can make local and STD calls at 1p/sec for 28 days.

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bharti airtel