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After public outcry, TRAI has intervened. Now, the minimum validity recharge has been reduced to 23 by Airtel and 24 by Voda. To recharge from main balance, for airtel dial *121*51# and choose 23. it can also be put on auto renew mode. for voda dial *444*24#. no auto renew option. for idea dial *369*24#. no auto renew option.

those who use only for incoming would wait till 28+15 (43) days to do validity recharge. so they would be paying about 300 now instead of the earlier 400. And yes TRAI regulations are violated as the to the Telecom Consumer Protection Regulation (Sixth Amendment) Rules specify that connection can not be discontinued as long as the main balance is more than Rs.20, but Rs20/30 days can be deducted for inactive numbers.

BSNL Prepaid Karnataka Circle Plan voucher: Rs.36/- Tariff: Local - Rs.0.02/- Per sec; STD - Rs.0.024/- Per sec Plan Validity: 180 days [6 months] After Plan validity Expiry Grace Period GP1: 15 days [Outgoing Calls & SMS barred except Toll Free & Emergency Nos. - if recharged, Talktime balance carry forward] Grace period GP2: 165 days [Outgoing Calls & SMS barred except Toll Free & Emergency Nos. - if Recharged, Number is retained] Note: Once recharged with Rs.36/-, BSNL customer gets Incoming calls & SMS free for 180+15+165=360 days

I would say Airtel & Vodafone are "Fishing in troubled waters" since, now they are just trying to improve their ARPU figures by shredding low ARPU users or forcing recharge upon them. I totally agree with you regarding the burden of maintaining such huge network but it is not going to help them by taking this step as by the way of loosing customers they cannot reduce their maintenance expenses but instead more calls will terminate to other networks. Though it is going to fetch them some quick revenue but is surely going to affect their future business, since many lifetime validity users were suppose to recharge a minimum of ₹200 every 6 months to continue their services and now forced recharging for them will only yield ₹55 extra ( since ₹35X13 = ₹455 i.e. ₹55 extra for 13X28 days= 364 days). No customer will ever want to live with the fear of losing outgoing after 28 days without any grace period if he forgets to recharge on the last day. IMHO it is a short term revenue collection policy and TRAI is equally involved since this violates the TRAI's 90 days disconnection policy. I am just concerned about the majority of lower income people using mobile - as they are going to be affected badly by this move.