Telcos offer special plans for flood-hit Kerala

Telecom companies are lending a helping hand to Kerala’s flood victims by rolling out talk time credit , special data packages and extensions to bill payments. Sunil Mittal owned Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India on Thursday said that the telcos will allow talk time credit up to Rs 30 for their prepaid customers in the flood hit region .Idea Cellular is offering a talk time credit of Rs 10 for pre paid subscribers .Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) is offering a complimentary seven day voice and data pack to its subscribers in the state and has sent out messages to its customers in Kerala. The incumbents will also give free 1GB mobile data to their prepaid smartphone users and while Airtel's and Idea's is valid for seven days , Vodafone India has not mentioned a time limit . “Airtel’s network teams and partners to continue making efforts to ensure the network is up and running despite the challenge of lack of power supply and disruption in movement of fuel supplies,” the company said in a statement on Thursday. The market leader will also deploy VSAT at five major relief centers in Kerala to provide free wi-fi and calling facility. Airtel said it will allow people to charge their mobile phones and make free calls from select Airtel flagship stores located in Thrissur, Calicut, Malappuram, Kannur, Kottayam, Trivandrum and Ernakulam. Idea Cellular too said it will also equip its company stores in the flood hit areas, to enable its customers to visit and charge their mobile phones.The incumbents have said that they will extend bill payment dates for all its postpaid customers and Airtel has offered the same for its home broadband customers. "We have mobilized our vast network of employees, customers, partners, vendors and supporters for relief work, channelizing our resources and efforts to the best of our ability, to provide help and assistance to the affected people in this hour of need," said Vodafone India . Incessant rains have led to floods in the state that have claimed more than a 100 lives, according to reports.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2vPIntA