Airtel Rs 199 prepaid plan: Benefits and how to update it?
Airtel Rs 199 prepaid rechage plan comes with minimum recharge for users. This shift pushes customers, especially those who only need calling services, towards data-driven plans.
Bharti Airtel, one of the leading telecom service providers of the country, has silently revised its prepaid tariff by delisting its Rs 189 voice-only plan from its website and app. With this move, the Rs 199 pack has emerged as the new base recharge option of the telecom operator for prepaid users in India.
The Rs 189 plan was highly utilised for people who relied mainly on voice calls, especially senior citizens, rural users, secondary SIM users, and low-income customers. It has unlimited calling without any unnecessary data benefits, making it a go-to pack for those with basic mobile needs.
It has ended up pushing subscribers to the more expensive data-inclusive plans with its discontinuation.
Why was the Rs 189 plan popular?
Non-data calling plans remain popular among Indian users, particularly:
- Elderly customers who need only a phone to make calls.
- Rural customers are using less internet
- Users with the secondary SIM for calls only
- Thrifty consumers
All this was best addressed by the Rs 189 plan, which provided:
- Unlimited voice calls
- 28-day validity
- No bundled data or digital benefits
This means that its removal will make users pay more, even if they might not need mobile data.
What does the new Rs 199 base plan offer?
Now, the Rs 199 plan appears to be Airtel's entry-level prepaid option with:
- Unlimited voice calls
- 100 SMS per day
- 2GB data for 28 days
- Additional features include free Hello Tunes.
- 12-month subscription to Perplexity Pro AI
While this plan gives added benefits, for the type of user who needs just a low-cost calling plan, the additional features are of little value.
Why did Airtel stop selling voice-only plans?
According to this ongoing change in the Indian telecom market, industry experts believe this move will lead to operators gradually phasing out basic voice-only packs.
Reasons include:
1. Catering data usage: More and more people are using smartphones, and that is why more and more telecom firms want to shift the user base toward data usage and digital services.
2. Increased revenue with data plans: Data plans bring in a higher ARPU, and that's very crucial for telecom companies burdened by rising network costs.
3. Industry trend change: Competitors like Jio and Vodafone Idea have also cut pure voice plans in the last couple of years.
Although the change could be favoured by smartphone users who use data daily, it further comes with several challenges, to name a few:
- People with low income
- People living in rural communities.
- Senior citizens or older adults.
- Feature phone users in the country.
Those who do not wish to own any expensive recharges, and are looking for an economical calling plan.