COVID-19: Telecom majors offer extra talktime, extend validity to provide relief

Major telecom operators have come forward to provide relief to customers amid coronavirus outbreak and extended the validity of prepaid plans to April 17 besides crediting Rs 10 talktime in accounts of low-income subscribers.

Reliance Jio has said it will provide 100 minutes of talktime and 100 text messages to all its users till April 17. The company also said customers will be able to receive incoming calls on their Jio numbers even if the validity of their existing packs have ended.

Vodafone Idea too said it will extend the validity of prepaid packs used by low-income customers that use feature phones. The company said it will credit Rs 10 talktime in the accounts of the customers who use feature phones.

Bharti Airtel along with state-run network operators MTNL and BSNL have also announced that they will extend the validity of the prepaid plans till April 20.

The extension of validity packs was announced by telecom operators after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) asked them to do so.

The regulatory body said subscribers must get uninterrupted services during the 21-day nationwide lockdown and asked operators to provide details on the steps taken to ensure that.