Indian carrier, Airtel, announced a couple of days that they will charge VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls regardless of your current data plan, which made a lot of consumers in India disappointed and angry at the same time. This reaction by the consumers is completely understandable, charging VoIP calls is simply moronic and the best way to scare people off your network. It seems like more and more people choose services like Skype and Viber (for example) to talk to their contacts.
Airtel has just announced that they will introduce new VoIP exlusive packs for its pre-paid customers really soon. That VoIP pack will cost Rs. 75 ($1.2) for 75MB with 28 days of validity, though it is still unclear whether the pack is applicable for all 2G, 3G and 4G customers or will Airtel introduce some sort of separation here. This company will introduce more VoIP packs soon along with some for post-paid customers. “Our Customers can enjoy a superior VoIP calling experience on Airtel’s network by choosing from a range of new VoIP specific data packs that will soon be launched. The Rs 75 package will allow customers to make between 200 and 250 minutes of calling. There would be no other charges in respective of VoIP calls. VoIP services in their current form are not tenable for us as a business. As a result, we will charge separately for VoIP services. However, in line with our philosophy of putting our customers above all else – we are committed to making VoIP services extremely affordable and attractive by ensuring adequate minutes for a very small charge on VoIP.” said Airtel in their official statement.
This VoIP update plans will go through within the next couple of weeks and the company will inform their customers when that happens via SMS, USSD pop-up, email, etc. It is also worth mentioning that those of you who have purchased data plans before December 24 are entitled to use your plans as you did thus far until they expire. These are certainly bad news for Airtel consumers, luckily I’m not one of them, but I’d like to hear from you, let us know what you think of all this.