Vodafone cuts rates with a new ₹499 plan to recapture losing market

• Vodafone’s new ₹499 plan offers unlimited voice calling and 1.5GB data per day.
• The company’s existing ₹555 plan now offers a validity of 77 days.

Vodafone Idea has replaced one of its pricier plans with a low-value and better benefits- probably in a bid to cut down on its customers who are panicking or porting out. In the last few months, ever since it came under the wind of spectrum dues, rumours have been doing the rounds that it will wind up.

Probably to boost the morale and retain their best spenders, Vodafone Idea introduced a new ₹499 plan for its prepaid customers.

In a way, Vodafone has replaced its $4 with the ₹499 plan as it offers the same benefits and comes with the same validity with 1.5GB of 4G data per day. To make up for the confusion, the ₹555 plan’s validity has been increased from 70 days to 77 days in a few circles.

As per a $4, in some circles, the ₹499 plan offers only 60 days validity and the ₹555 plan continues to offer 70 days validity. Bihar is one of the few circles where the ₹555 plan is still valid for 70 days only.

Vodafone ₹499 plan benefits

Apart from data, the ₹499 plan includes unlimited voice calling to any network in India and 100 SMS per day. Additionally, users will also get complimentary Vodafone Play subscription which offers Zee 5 premium content for free.

Vodafone aims to bring back the good spenders

After the Supreme Court said that the Department of Telecom (DoT) can collect $4 in dues, Vodafone Idea has had many problems. Apart from its stock tanking it has been losing customers too. Vodafone has lost over 105 million subscribers since September 2018.

Vodafone has been struggling to retain its customers and there have been$4 that users are porting out of Vodafone and shifting to Jio and Airtel. The company leadership’s response to the shocking dues, interest and penalty has left many subscribers on the edge. The company’s CEO Nick Read had said that the company could exit the market if the government doesn't offer any relief. Though he later clarified that the company has no plans to leave India - few of its customers are soothed by the assurances.

With the changes in the high-end prepaid plan, the company might be trying to arrest port outs. It remains to be seen if the company is able to attract more subscribers with its revised plans.

How Vodafone’s ₹499 plan competes with Jio and Airtel

Jio and Airtel do not have a plan that directly competes with Vodafone’s ₹499 plan as they have no plan with 70 days validity.

Telco	Plan	Validity	Data benefit	Calling benefit	SMS
Jio	₹ 555	84 days	1.5GB per day	Jio-to-Jio - unlimited, non-Jio - 3000 minutes	100 SMS per day
Airtel	₹ 598	84 days	1.5GB per day	Unlimited calling	100 SMS per day

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