Telecom network operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced the launch of Happy Hours for its prepaid mobile customers by offering 50 percent data back for all in-app content downloads between 3 am – 5 am.
The Delhi-headquartered Bharti Airtel aims to promote the data consumption during early hours in a day when the network faces less pressure. The largest telecom operator in India will also be free from controversies relating to net neutrality because the offer is available to all in-app content downloads.
More than 95 percent of Airtel’s mobile subscribers in India are pre-paid customers. Airtel did not say whether the company is offering mobile data back on all its networks — 2G, 3G and 4G.
The Happy Hours plan allows Airtel pre-paid customers to get 50 percent data back for all in-app content downloads scheduled between 3.00 am and 5.00 am. “If a customer schedules a video download of 100 MB then 50 MB will be credited back to account,” said Bharti Airtel in a statement.
# customers can get 50% data back for a scheduled in-app content downloads between 3-5 am
# App developers benefit through more scheduled downloads
# App users can schedule their non-urgent and heavy downloads without staying up
# Happy Hours showcased at GIDS 2016 received positive feedback from developers
# YouTube and FastFilmz Apps integrated the product
# Other partners set to join
Airtel says app developers can integrate with Airtel Happy Hours in four steps and give their users the option to automatically schedule downloads between 3.00 am and 5.00 am and achieve 50 percent data back on downloads. Developers do not have to pay Airtel for using this feature for their apps.
Airtel is offering API integration kit to developers on sign-up at www.airtel.in/happyhours
On YouTube, an Airtel pre-paid customer needs to choose the Smart Offline option on videos and select Save overnight with Airtel Happy Hours to automatically save the video between 3.00 am and 5.00 am with 50 percent data back.
The company claims that 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 percent savings on data.
Ajai Puri, director – Operations (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel, said “Happy Hours is an innovation from Airtel and a win-win proposition for both customers and developers.”
Airtel is offering Happy Hours to all Airtel pre-paid customers by default and does not require an opt-in. Bharti Airtel will credit the data back to customers after 6.00 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 percent data back, said Airtel.
In case a customer does not have a data pack, a discounted volume based charge of 0.4 Paisa/10Kb will apply during Happy Hours, said Airtel.
