Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio on Tuesday offered its users 100 minutes of free talktime and 100 free SMS till April 17, 10-times more than its rival has offered as help to the distressed during nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. All JioPhone users will continue to receive incoming calls post validity of their pre-paid vouchers in recognition of the difficulty some users may face in recharging.
In a tweet, the company said: "10x benefits to JioPhone users when it's needed the most - 100 minutes of calls & 100 SMS complimentary". JioPhone users will continue to receive income calls post validity, it said with tag line 'With love, from Jio'.
With sources of livelihood shut, thousands of migrant workers fleeing cities for their hometowns soon after the unprecedented 21-day lockdown a week back to contain the spread of coronavirus. Migrant daily wagers have been left with no source of livelihood as the lockdown shut businesses barring those classified essential services.
Mobile phone service provides have come to the aid of such by offering extended validity of recharge vouchers, that would allow free incoming calls to continue through the lockdown, as well as some free talktime. Bharti Airtel on Monday announced an extension of the validity period of more than 8 crore pre-paid connections until April 17 and a credit of Rs 10 in talk time.
For a Rs 45 recharge voucher, the Rs 10 talktime translated into just over 6 minutes of calling at the standard tariff of Rs 1.5 per minute. Vodafone Idea Ltd too on Tuesday offered a matching benefit but only to low-income feature phone users only.
Jio has a substantially high percentage of users that recharge online but those who did through physical retail stores had faced issues due to the current lockdown. For such subscribers, Jio has provided alternative channels to recharge, such as UPI, ATM, SMS, Call, etc, it said. Jio said it is going the extra mile for its JioPhone users and is providing 100 minutes of calls and 100 SMS free, anywhere in the country, till 17th April 2020.
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