“As a special relief offer, Vi will provide Rs. 49 pack Free to over 60 million low income customers due to the current situation. The pack offers talktime of Rs. 38 and 100 MB data with a validity of 28 days,” said the telco which has 269.8 million subscribers as of December end quarter.
The telco has benefits up to Rs. 2,940 for this subset of subscribers and has also launched a Combo Voucher RC79, which comes with double talktime of Rs. 128 (64+64) and 200 MB of data for a validity of 28 days for a limited time period.
Vi’s initiatives targeting its low income customers follow its two larger rivals who have launched a slew of offers over the last few days.
Airtel has rolled out recharge offers for its over 55 million low-income customers. Last Friday, Jio came up with additional talk time and recharge benefits for its 100 million JioPhone subscribers.
These roll outs during the pandemic come at a time when all three are trying to up their customer base and ensure the subscribers stick to their plans at the least, even if they do not go up the tariff order..
For Vi, it is important to fend off its rivals since the latest data by the sector regulator in February showed that while Airtel gained 3.8 million active subscribers, Vi’s and Jio’s active customers were down by 0.2 million respectively.
The third largest private player may also be the more accessible customer base for Jio which has ambitious plans to reach its 500 million subscriber base.
The aggression from the three telcos also comes at a time when Vi has managed to stem its customer loss a bit.
“Vodafone Idea – active subscriber loss moderated to 0.2 million in February 2021 vs 0.3 million loss in January 2021…On reported basis, it added 0.7 million subscribers in February 2021 (market share at 24.2%) vs 2.3 million lost in January 2021. This is the first addition in reported subscribers for Vi since October 2019, which bodes well, as loss of subscribers seems to have subsided,” said Axis Capital in its report.
As of January-March quarter, Jio and Airtel customer base stand at 426.2 million and over 321 million respectively. Vi is yet to announce its fourth quarter results.
