Sunday Talk: Is Removing Prepaid Talk Time Plans a Good Move by Incumbent Telcos?

Telcos Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Limited recently made a big move by removing talk time plans for prepaid users across the country. This essentially means that subscribers won’t be able to recharge with basic talk time recharges such as Rs 20, Rs 30, Rs 50 and various other denominations. While Airtel and Idea Cellular retained the Rs 10 talk time plan, Vodafone even removed that as we were not able to find the plan of same denomination on the company’s website. The talk time plans offered by telcos right now are Rs 10 (Airtel and Idea Cellular), Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000. All the three plans come with unlimited validity.

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What are Talk Time Plans?

For the unaware, talk time plans avail a user certain amount of Balance in their account which they can use for voice calls or data or sending SMS, but they’ll be charged at standard rates. Furthermore, users can make use of these talk time balance to activate some other plans via Balance Deduction Mode. Talk Time plans exist for a long time, but finally, telcos are killing them in a bid to boost the ARPU.

While private telcos phased out the talk time plans, state-run telcos- BSNL and MTNL are still providing them to the subscribers.

What Made Telcos Done Away With Talk Time Recharges?

Well, after the entry of Reliance Jio to the Indian market, the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of telcos declined by a huge margin. That said, the ARPU of Jio is slightly ahead of other telcos such as Airtel and Vodafone Idea because it’s providing combo recharge plans only. You might be wondering by now- doesn’t Jio offer talk time recharges? Well yes, the telco is giving talk time recharges, but you can’t make voice calls or consume data with that talk time balance.