Reliance Infocomm Widens Prepaid Reach

[Vishal Gupta 4]

Reliance Infocomm widens Prepaid reach

=>Introduces lower denomination recharge vouchers of Rs 199/- & Rs 165/-

DAKC (Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City), Navi Mumbai, September 27, 2004

Reaching out to customers whose primary need is to receive incoming calls or recharge in smaller amounts, Reliance Infocomm has launched two new Recharge Vouchers (RCVs) of Rs 199/- and Rs 165/- denomination.

These unique RCVs are aimed at meeting the needs of two distinct prepaid consumer segments:

Rs199/- RCV allows customers to receive unlimited incoming calls for 25 days, while giving them sufficient talk time to make occasional outgoing calls.

Rs165 /- RCV helps the customer to split his monthly mobile spend of Rs330/- in to two installments of Rs165 /- each.

Announcing the launch of the new prepaid vouchers, S P Shukla, President Wireless Products, Reliance Infocomm, said, "With these two new vouchers, we seek to reach out to a larger section of prepaid users by offering them products that meet their need. The new vouchers will allow many customers to remain mobile at an affordable price."

With the use of these vouchers, the customers will continue to enjoy a superior value proposition with calls rates starting at 99-paise per minute, applicable for calls from RIM to all Reliance Phones. The customers also have the choice of making STD and ILD calls, apart from SMS facility and making data calls.

The Rs 199/- RCV (with a talk time value of Rs 56 /-) is valid for 25 days, while the Rs 165/- RCV (talk time value Rs 75 /-) is valid for 15 days, and the customer gets the benefit to 'carry forward' the unused balance for the grace period of 15 days.

The vouchers are available at all WebWorlds and the regular RIM Prepaid retail outlets across the country.

The new vouchers, coupled with the launch of an array of affordable handsets - ranging from an LG 2230 model at just Rs 2,499 to the latest addition of the World's thinnest CDMA handset Samsung Slim @ Rs 2,999 - will surely enlarge the size of the ever increasing family of RIM subscribers. This, in turn, will make RIM-to-RIM calls increasingly attractive, Mr Shukla added.

Reliance Infocomm Ltd., a Reliance group company, is India's largest mobile service provider with over 8 million customers. Reliance Infocomm has established a pan-India, high capacity, integrated (wireless and wire-line) and convergent (voice, data and video) digital network, to offer services spanning the entire Infocomm value chain - infrastructure, services for enterprises and individuals, applications and consulting. The Reliance Group, founded by Shri Dhirubhai H. Ambani (1932-2002), is India's largest business house with total revenues of over Rs 99,000 crore (US$ 22.6 billion), cash profit of Rs 12,500 crore (US$ 2.8 billion), net profit of Rs 6,200 crore (US$ 1.4 billion) and exports of Rs 15,900 crore (US$ 3.6 billion).

[Beetle 0]

I dont understand the point here. Reduce the denomination + reduce the validity. Its like splitting voucher 325 with one month validity into two vouchers of 165 with 15 days validity. (This stunt exists in GSM circles too)

The only users who can really benifit from this are those who recharge once in 6 months just so that thier no. is kept alive. Why would any body do that, you ask? Well if you know how to program your old post paid number onto a new pre paid handset (say your 2030 onto 5130 eg: Hyper) and do not want to permanently loose the prepaid no.

Once in every six months recharge the 5130 phone so that the RIM no. is kept alive. So, again, this basically favours individuals on the other side of the law. Doesnt all schemes from RIM.

[raccoon 53]

One more important issue - helpdesk says the new vouchers of Rs. 165 and 199 would not allow incoming calls after the validity period! That effectively means that incoming and outgoing calls would stop on the same day! And if you cant find the right voucher on the exact day it expires, you stand to loose important incoming calls too! Not a good option for most of us, I'm sure...

Instead they should have launched vouchers with longer validity periods of 1 year etc, like what BSNL has done!

Edited September 28, 2004 by raccoon