Vodafone India has made a change to its RED Basic postpaid plan of Rs 399 and it no longer ships with free Amazon Prime membership. Vodafone announced its partnership with Amazon India last year to offer Amazon Prime subscription worth Rs 999 at no extra cost to its postpaid customers on plans above Rs 399. However, with the company's ARPU falling on a constant basis, Vodafone was said to remove the Rs 399 and below postpaid plans. While the UK-based telco did not remove any of the entry-level plans, it made slight changes to the same plans to push users to choose the Rs 499 and above RED postpaid plans. Vodafone's RED range of postpaid plans start at Rs 299 and they go all the way up to Rs 1,299 offering benefits like free Netflix subscription, Amazon Prime membership and Vodafone Play app subscription at no extra cost.
Vodafone RED Basic Plan Revised: What it Offers Now?
For the unaware, Vodafone's RED Basic plan is priced at Rs 399. Back in 2018, when Vodafone announced a partnership with Amazon India, the Rs 399 RED Basic also shipped with free subscription of Amazon Prime worth Rs 999. It has now been removed and the RED Basic plan only offers content subscriptions of Vodafone Play, ZEE5 (for one year worth Rs 999) and Complimentary Mobile Insurance worth Rs 999. To get the Amazon Prime membership, Vodafone customers will have to choose the Rs 499 or above postpaid plan going forward.
In contrast, Airtel also removed the Amazon Prime membership benefit with its Rs 399 postpaid plan. In fact, Airtel's postpaid plans now start at Rs 499 across all the circles and the Rs 399 plan is being offered only in select circles except Andhra Pradesh, Delhi/NCR, Karnataka, Chennai and Tamil Nadu. Airtel's postpaid plan of Rs 399 also comes with ZEE5 subscription for one year, Airtel TV Premium and Handset protection, similar to Vodafone RED Basic plan.
Notably, Idea also removed Amazon Prime membership with its Rs 399 Nirvana postpaid plan. Other benefits of the Rs 399 postpaid plan from Vodafone Idea include 40GB data with rollover up to 200GB, unlimited voice calling without any FUP limit and 100 SMSes per day for one rental month.
Telcos Removing Low-Cost Postpaid Plans to Boost ARPU
Incumbent telcos- Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel removed the low-cost postpaid plans to boost the ARPU. While Vodafone Idea is still providing the Rs 399 postpaid plan in all the circles, Airtel has made the same plan a circle-specific plan forcing users to choose the Rs 499 and above plans. As for the content offerings, Airtel is a go-to operator in the segment because it ships Netflix subscription worth Rs 1,500, Airtel TV Premium, Amazon Prime membership worth Rs 999, ZEE5 membership worth Rs 999 and Handset Protection with all its postpaid plans.
Vodafone is providing Netflix subscription for two months with its high-end postpaid plans of Rs 999 and Rs 1,299, so clearly Airtel has the upper hand. Vodafone has a Rs 299 postpaid plan as well which can be availed by heading over to the Vodafone offline stores. Airtel is no longer offering the Rs 299 postpaid plan, but the telco has a Rs 349 in select circles with very basic benefits.
