Bharti Airtel offers 50% data back for in-app downloads for pre-paid

'Happy Hours' initiative will allow consumers to schedule download between 3 am to 5 am

The country’s largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, has launched an offer which will allow its pre-paid customers to get back 50 per cent of the data consumed in all in-app content downloads between 3 am and 5 am.

The latest initiative, named ‘Happy Hours’, will also allow consumers to schedule downloads between 3 am and 5 am. Airtel has already tied up with FastFilmz and YouTube for the service and is in talks with other apps for the same.

The service will work only in those apps that have integrated with the operator, as they will show an option for downloading during the Happy Hours period.

The move by the operator is part of its efforts to increase data consumption and also shift downloads during non-peak hours, which will de-congest the network.

The data growth of various mobile operators has been slowing down and such kind of initiatives will boost the growth rate and consumption.

Analysts feel data volume growth deceleration in the past couple of quarters is likely to continue, which will have a negative impact especially in the wake of accelerated 4G network expansion.

Airtel had, last year, announced a plan wherein consumers could get 50 per cent cashback for the data consumed between 12 am and 6 am.

Regarding the ‘Happy Hours’ initiative, Airtel said any app developer can integrate with it and give their users the option to automatically schedule downloads between 3 am and 5 am.

“Developers do not have to pay Airtel for using this feature for their apps. A full API integration kit is available to developers on sign-up,” Airtel said.
 
The company further added that the product was also showcased to developers at the Great Indian Developers Summit (GIDS) earlier this year and received positive feedback.

Airtel said app developers benefit from Happy Hours through more in-app scheduled content downloads, while app users benefit as they can schedule their non-urgent and heavy downloads like videos, photo albums, music albums etc. without having to stay up and making 50 per cent savings on data.

Airtel said data back will be credited to customers after 6 am every day. Data consumed on all regular prepaid data packs, except discounted night products such as double data packs, will be eligible for the 50 per cent data back.