Bharti Airtel recently increased the price of its minimum recharge plan from Rs 24 to Rs 45, adding woes to the prepaid customers. And this move is also affecting the new customers of Bharti Airtel who are looking to join the network. Airtel's new customers will have to choose at least Rs 45 plan to enjoy prepaid services. Airtel also introduced some new First Recharge plans starting at Rs 197. Up until now, Airtel offered this FRC plans to the users, but now, new users can even choose the Rs 45 plan for 28 days of service validity. The First Recharge plans of Airtel include Rs 197, Rs 297, Rs 497 and Rs 647. The Rs 45 Airtel plan offers just 28 days of service validity and all the local/STD voice calls will be charged at 2.5 paise per second.
Airtel Allows New Users to Choose Rs 45 Smart Recharge Plan
The Rs 45 Smart Recharge plan by Bharti Airtel was introduced at the end of December. Notably, it's the same Rs 24 Smart Recharge plan which the telco used to offer earlier. Airtel has separate recharge plans to new users starting at Rs 197. However, as per the latest update, Airtel is allowing the new customers to even choose the Rs 45 Smart Recharge plan. All the telecom operators in the country are offering a new SIM card at zero charges, but customers have to perform a minimum recharge to avail the prepaid services.
The minimum recharge on Airtel network is Rs 45 for both existing and new customers, which is actually a good thing. "For a new connection, First Recharge Coupon (FRC) is mandatory for the activation," says Bharti Airtel.
Furthermore, if the Rs 45 voucher expires, then Airtel will auto-deduct the Rs 45 from talk time balance from the main balance for extending the service validity by another 28 days. "In case the customer has a main balance equal or more than Rs 45 and no recharge is done with a voucher of minimum Rs 45 or above at the end of the tariff validity period, then the minimum recharge amount of Rs 45 will be adjusted toward extending the validity of tariff plan by 28 days," added Airtel.
Notably, the Rs 45 plan is available to both new and existing Bharti Airtel customers. Users can opt for this Rs 45 Smart Recharge and choose any talk time plans for making outgoing voice calls at 2.5 paise per second.
Airtel Offering Four First Recharge Plans to Prepaid Users
Besides the Rs 45 First Recharge plan, Bharti Airtel is also offering four more FRCs for the new users. The plans in question are Rs 197, Rs 297, Rs 497 and Rs 647. The Rs 197 FRC recharge offers 2GB data, unlimited voice calls and 300 SMSes for 28 days, whereas the Rs 297 pack comes with 1.5GB data per day, 100 SMSes per day and unlimited voice calling for 28 days.
The Rs 497 and Rs 647 recharges are long-validity plans shipping with 1.5GB data per day, unlimited voice calling without any FUP limit and 100 SMSes per day for 56 days and 84 days, respectively. These four recharges came into effect on December 3, 2019, after the prepaid tariff hike by the telco. New customers of Airtel can also choose the Rs 45 Smart Recharge plan while purchasing the SIM card. The activation of the SIM card will be done in less than one hour, which is another great thing to note.
