Lockdown: Airtel, Vodafone Idea extend validity of pre-paid mobile accounts till May 3

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have extended the validity of pre-paid mobile plans till May 3 for those users who could not recharge their account due to the lockdown imposed to contain Covid-19 spread.

The extension in validity altogether benefits around 12 crore customers. It will enable customers to continue getting incoming calls even if they are unable to recharge their account till May 3.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea had earlier extended validity till April 17 of pre-paid account holders.

"Many of these customers have been able to recharge through several channels activated by Airtel including - ATMs, post offices, grocery stores and chemist shops, in addition to digital channels. However, close to 30 million (3 crore) such customers have still not been able to recharge their pre-paid mobile accounts," Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

The government announced nationwide lockdown starting March 24 till April 14. It has been further extended till May 3.

Both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea offer cashback or commission to their customers who recharge pre-paid account of subscriber on their network through apps of the respective companies.

Vodafone Idea said free of cost extension of incoming service validity will enable millions of feature phone users of both Vodafone and Idea to continue to receive incoming calls, even if the validity of their plan expires earlier.

"In order to ensure that consumers stay connected during this extended lock down, we are extending the incoming service validity of 90 million consumers till May 3," Vodafone Idea marketing director Avneesh Khosla said.