Airtel to Give Rs. 49 Recharge for Free, Double Benefits With Rs. 79 Plan

Airtel has announced that it will be offering its Rs. 49 recharge plan for free as a one-time gesture for its prepaid customers. It will also offer double the benefits of its Rs. 79 plan. Airtel is one of the largest telecom operators in India and the company says it has introduced these offers to help its 55 million low-income customers in these challenging times. The company says this will amount to benefits worth Rs. 270 crores and will be available to customers from this week.

Airtel offers a few smart recharge plans including Rs. 45, Rs. 49, and Rs. 79. These plans offer the very basics of connectivity options. The company has now announced that from this week, the Rs. 49 plan will be completely free as a one-time gesture, which means a prepaid Airtel customer can get a free, one-time recharge of Rs. 49 without paying anything. The plan includes talktime of Rs. 38.52, 100MB data, and 28 days of validity. After the 100MB data limit, customers will be charged Rs. 0.50 per MB of data use.

“Through this gesture Airtel will empower over 55 million customers, mostly in rural areas, to stay connected and have access to critical information when needed,” Airtel said.

Additionally, the telecom operator is also doubling the benefits of its Rs. 79 smart recharge. Typically, this plan includes Rs. 128 talktime, 200MB data, Rs. 0.60 per minute tariff for local, STD, and landline calls, along with a validity of 28 days. While the company has not detailed the benefits of the new offer, “double the benefits” suggests that all components of this plan will be doubled. So customers who recharge for Rs. 79 this week will get Rs. 256 talk time, 400MB data, and 56 days of validity. Airtel has not mentioned if this offer is a one-time gesture.

The telecom operator said these offers are to aid customers who are suffering because of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the lockdowns put in place because of it. Airtel has not shared the exact date for when these offers will go live but expect them to be available soon as the company says the offers are for this week. At the time of writing, Airtel's mobile app or its Web portal had not been updated to reflect the new offers.

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