Mobile pre-paid plans to cost less

Aiming to make mobile services more affordable, three leading players have drastically reduced the entry fee for the lifetime pre-paid schemes.

While leading private mobile operator Bharti Airtel was the first to announce halving of fees to Rs 495, from Rs 999 earlier, Reliance Communications and Hutchison Essar followed soon and each reduced charges to Rs 499.

"The current lifetime product at the reduced fee is intended to drive affordability and consumption in the prepaid category further," Sanjay Kapoor, president, mobile services, Bharti Airtel, said.

While Airtel's lifetime product gives Rs 10 free talk-time to subscribers, on Hutch and RCom, subscribers get free-talk time worth Rs 20.

To keep the Airtel and Hutch connections alive, customers have to go for a re-charge of at least Rs 200 every six months. For RCom customers, the corresponding charge is Rs 125 every three months.