Vodafone Idea Reduces Minimum Recharge Plan Prices To Rs. 20: Report

Vodafone Idea has reduced the price of its minimum recharge plan to Rs. 20 from Rs.35, to retain its subscribers from switching to other operators, reports Econimic Times. The news comes after the company lost 4.14 million subscribers in June, as per the data released by TRAI.

According to the report, the company is also sending messages to selected subscribers to inform them about the change. Adding to that, the reason behind this initiative is it to attract inactive customers.

However, there is a catch. Since the previous minimum recharge plan of Rs. 35 used to provide 30 days of outgoing call benefits, now the validity of the plan has been decreased to 28 days. However it is not clear that the company will offer incoming calls facility after the validity gets over.

To recall, Airtel has also launched the same plan of Rs.35, where it offers talktime of Rs. 26, 100MB data for 28 days.

Meanwhile, a new report by India Ratings stated that Reliance Jio is likely to grab a market share of both Airtel and Vodafone Idea. The firm pointed out that Jio will garner 45 percent market share in the next three years, thanks to its cheap tariff plans. It is worth mentioning that the debt of Voda-Idea, Airtel and RJio at end-FY19 stood at Rs. 3.9 trillion.

Our Take

Both Vodafone and Idea have almost completed network integration in all circles. The operator is losing customers as there is intense competition in the telecom sector. Incumbents (Airtel and Vodafone) are looking for other ways to increase their revenue like joining hands with OTT players.

But, we still believe that reducing the prices of minimum recharge plans will not help Vodafone to attract more subscribers because Reliance Jio holds the lead in the prepaid and postpaid plans.