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"The complimentary talk time and extended prepaid validity will be credited within 48 hours to the accounts of the low-income users affected by the coronavirus lockdown"
With the coronavirus lockdown implemented across most of the country, Airtel has announced two new measures to aid the low-income subscribers across the country stay in touch with family and friends. The first is giving Rs 10 talk time to 80 million low-income subscribers – this talk time can be used to make calls as well as send SMSes. The second is extending validity of all prepaid recharges to April 17th, meaning uninterrupted incoming services for people who cannot purchase a new recharge pack till the coronavirus lockdown ends on April 14th. Airtel says these benefits will be credited to the accounts of the 80 million intended subscribers in the next 48 hours.
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In a statement to the media, the company said, "These 80 million customers effectively cover all underprivileged households on the Airtel Network. These special measures will particularly benefit migrant workers and daily wage earners who may have been impacted due to the nationwide lockdown to combat COVID-19."
Concerns around the spread of coronavirus across India have put the country under lockdown since last week. This has led to people being cut off from their friends and families abruptly. With millions of migrant workers trying to get back home, measures such as these will help the affected people reach out to their loved ones.
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Reliance Jio has also made efforts to help its subscribers during the coronavirus pandemic-induced lockdown. The company has launched a 10Mbps broadband plan for new users – this plan will be free for subscribers and will have no download limit. Jio also launched a Rs 251 'Work From Home' add-on recharge pack that gives users 2GB data per day (on top of their usual daily data) for a period of 51 days. Both Airtel and Jio have also launched their respective coronavirus symptom checker tools to help their users determine if they are infected by the deadly disease.