Airtel, BSNL Offering Additional Talk Time; Extend Prepaid Validity

To help its customers during the lockdown, Airtel has now come up with special measures. The operator has extended the validity of prepaid plans until April 17, 2020. This means customers can receive calls, even if the validity of the plan is expired.

"These 80 million customers effectively cover all underprivileged households on the Airtel Network. These special measures will particularly benefit migrant workers and daily wage earners who may have been impacted due to the nationwide lockdown to combat COVID-19. All other customers on Airtel's network are already recharging their accounts using online platforms," the telco said in a statement.

Besides, Airtel is crediting Rs. 10 talk time into the accounts, so customers can make calls and send messages. Airtel also said the benefit will reflect in the next 48 hours. The development comes after TRAI asks the telecom operators to extend the validity of prepaid plans during the lockdown.

BSNL Extends Validity And Offers During Lockdown

Meanwhile, the state-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has also announced new initiatives for its prepaid customers. The telco has also announced the validity extension until April 20, 2020. Also, the operator is crediting additional Rs. 10 talk time after zero balance.

"A mobile subscriber whose validity is expired during the lockdown period... and is not able to recharge for extension of validity, BSNL... is extending the validity of all such subscribers up to 20th April 2020, free of cost, so that the subscribers continue to receive incoming calls," the operator said.

Apart from that, Reliance Jio is offering 2GB extra data to all its customers during this period. The additional data has already been passed to most of the users. The company has launched this for its prepaid customers, so they can work from home easily. The company is also partnered with nine banks too.