Vodafone Idea (Vi) has discontinued its Rs 49 prepaid plan in most parts of India. The telco mostly follows in the footsteps of Bharti Airtel when it comes to offering prepaid plans. Much like Airtel, Vi has now discontinued the Rs 49 prepaid plan in most parts of the country and now the users will have to go for the Rs 79 plan at least. Firstly noted by the Financial Express, Vodafone Idea has reduced the number of telecom circles the company is offering its Rs 49 prepaid plan in. Let’s check out the benefits that the Rs 49 and Rs 79 plan offers to the customers.
Vodafone Idea Rs 49 and Rs 79 Prepaid Plans
Vodafone Idea (Vi) offers 100MB of data with a talktime of Rs 38 along for 14 days. There are no SMS benefits included. In comparison, the Rs 79 prepaid plan offers 200MB of data, Rs 64 worth of talktime for 28 days, but again, no SMS benefits. So the users will almost get double benefits with the Rs 79 plan when compared with the Rs 49 plan.
Note that the plan is still offered in select telecom circles including Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. This is an indirect tariff hike from the company. Yes, the users are getting more benefits as well, but now they will also have to spend more even if they don’t want to. Since Airtel has also removed its Rs 49 plan, users have got no other option but to recharge with the Rs 79 plan of either Airtel or Vodafone Idea.
This will marginally help Vodafone Idea (Vi) in improving its average revenue per user (ARPU) which will also positively affect its total revenues. This will be a little disappointing for the customers who used to recharge with the base plans under Rs 50 offered by Airtel and Vodafone Idea. But the telcos will be happy by looking at the standard plans that each of them are offering.
