After Bharti Airtel, telecom service provider Idea Cellular announced the launch of i-Plan for its post-paid customers to customize their monthly plan.
Airtel’s flexible scheme is known as MyPlan.
Idea Cellular’s new scheme allows post-paid users to select, create and customize their monthly plans from voice and data schemes offered by the company.
This is for the first time that post-paid customers are getting special benefits from Indian telecom operators. Idea Cellular says the post-paid category is maturing and comprises of high ARPU customers who have different needs and requirements.
Both the schemes have limitations because post-paid users, which account for majority revenue and around five percent of total user base, can choose plans shared by the operator. This means, users do not have 100 percent flexibility.
Both telecoms say their packages address user demands.
Krishnan Arimbra, a Vodafone mobile service user from Kerala, said: “Because of connectivity issues in my area, I switched to Vodafone from Airtel. Airtel’s MyPlan looks great as we can choose what we want. I tried Rs 399 rental plan and I can choose 12 packs. This means I can choose 1200 local minutes, or 500 local minutes + 2800 local or national SMS or 840 STD minutes according to my own usage.”
He says Airtel’s MyPlan will be great for users to reduce their monthly bill, as they can avoid the features which they are not using and can add some additional benefit instead.
Idea Cellular’s i-Plan allows customers to select rental plans, starting from Rs 199 to Rs 999, depending on their usage pattern, needs and requirements. Customers can opt for a range of packs offering voice, SMS and data benefits.
Idea is also offering the option of add-on packs which users can combine with their monthly rentals to create their best suited plan.
Sashi Shankar, chief marketing officer, Idea Cellular said, “The Idea i-Plan is in line with our ‘Customer First’ approach as it gives the customers the freedom of choice, personalisation, flexibility, and control.”
