Airtel says it never charged customers separately for IUC; unlimited calls to continue, Telecom News, ET Telecom

01/01/2021 India

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel said that it has never charged its clients separately for IUC and will continue the benefits of unlimited calling for its clients without any changes.

Ajai Puri, COO of Bharti Airtel, said that Airtel mobile customers already enjoy unlimited free calls to all networks with prepaid packages and postpaid plans that also offer large amounts of high-speed data.

“In fact, Airtel has never charged its customers separately for IUC and the benefits of unlimited calling will continue for our customers without any changes,” he added.

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IUC is a charge that a telecommunications company pays to another operator when its customers make voice calls to subscribers on the rival network, and these charges are 6 paise per minute. On Thursday, Reliance Jio announced that calls from its users to other networks in India will be free from Friday, when the IUC regime ends.

Minimum recharge: this is the reason why Airtel, Vodafone Idea could lose 60 million subscribers

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Introduction

India’s telecoms industry could lose up to 60 million subscribers in the next six months as incumbents Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel aggressively pressure their prepaid customers to opt for minimum recharge plans. These latest packages have established a pricing platform, that is, almost on par with Reliance Jio’s minimum rate plan.
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Recharge plans launched and why

To help retain customers and increase average revenue per user (ARPU), Airtel and VIL have introduced a 28-day validity period on a series of prepaid packages of less than Rs 100, such as Rs 35, Rs 65 and Rs 95, of which customers who do not recharge these plans will see outgoing calls blocked in 30 days and incoming calls in 45 days. The new minimum recharge plans will eliminate free chargers that do not generate cash for operators.

The goal of telcos is to get customers to generate revenue and not stay connected without being charged, which will help their ARPU, which has dropped dramatically in the last two years due to brutal price competition.
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Analysts adopt minimum recharge plans

Analysts say the estimated drop could be 60 million subscriptions, while Rajan Mathews, CEO of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), also represents the three private telcos, however, he estimated a drop. roughly 25-30 million in number of subscribers in the next six. months as SIM consolidation takes place.
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Drop in dual SIM usage

This would reduce the overall subscriber base of almost 1.2 billion registered at the end of August, while the number of those with new SIMs, or unique subscribers, will increase somewhat, reflecting some with new connections. From the overall base, some 730-750 million are currently single customers or holders of a single SIM. The rest have two SIM cards.

Analysts say that customers use dual SIM cards to take advantage of the difference in prices and quality of services across geographies. Now that both the price and the quality of the service are similar across all operators, the need for multiple connections is no longer critical.

The switch to a SIM will see real levels of penetration and create strategies for the expansion plans of telcos accordingly.
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The taking of Airtel

Gopal Vittal, CEO of Bharti Airtel, said in a post-earnings call that he expects “prepaid ARPU will start to improve for the third fiscal quarter onwards due to minimum recharge plans, which should also lead to a reduction on company sales, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) ”.
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Telcos wrong communication to subscribers

After Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel sent puzzling messages to their prepaid customers asking them to make a mandatory recharge despite having a balance in their accounts, users have filed their complaints on the matter.

Trai, the usual telecommunications company, has already intervened by asking operators to inform subscribers clearly and transparently of the date on which the current validity of an existing plan would expire and the next course. Trai stated in his letter, “operators must not discontinue the services of those customers who have a balance in prepaid accounts equal to the minimum recharge amount.”