Hyderabad, January, 2004: AirTel, India’s leading mobile service today opened up new frontier for the prepaid market in India. Backed by a range of never before initiatives, AirTel launched an aggressive market expansion campaign aptly called “Aisee Azadi Aur kahan”. Entry cost of recharge, for the first time in the country has been brought down from Rs 300 to a mere Rs 50, the lowest in the prepaid category. With the new Airtel “Easy Charge”, prepaid customers can top up their prepaid cards with any value suiting their budget. For added convenience, AirTel customers would also enjoy the advantage of “Anytime Recharge”, on a 24X7 basis. Going a step ahead, AirTel prepaid customers would also be able to recharge their prepaid cards while roaming in any of the 15 AirTel networks across India with Airtel “Easy Charge”

With an aim to further expand the market, Airtel has also tied up with leading handset manufacturers Motorola and Samsung. Customers would now have the option to go mobile either at Rs 1947 or at Rs 2999 depending on their handset budget.

Announcing, the new initiatives, Mr. Subba Rao N.V., Vice President – Sales & Marketing Bharti Mobile Limted - AP said, “Prepaid category has always been the real engine for the unprecedented growth of the Indian mobile market. Time has now come to further charge up this segment. The onus is on the mobile operators to innovate and provide never before offers. In this regard I am happy to announce that Airtel has today taken the lead to launch innovations, which are bound to open up new frontiers for the entire prepaid market in the country. The launch of Airtel “Easy Charge” - India’s first flexi value anytime, anywhere and any amount recharge clearly provides the consumer the ultimate freedom and control that he seeks from the category that would lead to market expansio n. This facility will be available at 50,000 Airtel retail outlets across the country by March 04.”

Adding further he said, “AirTel is also planning to launch “Express SMS” a unique concept wherein any customer can walk into our special kiosks which will be put up in the city and needs to pay Re.1 and can send and receive SMS’s to / from anybody. In the same spirit of providing freedom to customers Airtel recently launched Lakshadikari  - a tambola game show in a tie up with Maa TV providing customers to play from their homes at their convenience surely would bring more benefits to the customers”.

More About “Aisee Azadi aur Kahan”

Azadi Of Easy Charge – “Recharge As You Like” 

AirTel prepaid customers now have the added advantage of topping up their prepaid card with any denomination suiting their budget, be it Rs 75, 120, 160 etc. In real terms, this means a prepaid customer can buy talk time in the same manner as he buys petrol for his car or two- wheeler i.e. only buy as much as one has the money to pay for.

Azadi Of Anytime Anywhere Recharge  

AirTel prepaid customers would now be able to enjoy the advantage of “Anytime anywhere Recharge” through AirTel easy charge by just calling their retailer any time of the day or night. The retailer simply tops up by sending an SMS to the customer of the value desired. The added advantage would specially benefit customers who are always short on time and those facing an emergency. One of the biggest beneficiaries of this feature would be women wanting to recharge their prepaid cards at night but cannot venture out due to security concerns.

Azadi To Stay Mobile For As Low As Rs 50   

AirTel prepaid customers instead of buying a Rs 300 recharge coupon can now stay mobile for as low as *Rs 50. This represents the lowest denomination recharge in the entire prepaid segment in the country.

*Talk time valid for 3 days

 More Azadi To Recharge While Roaming….across India  

Prepaid customers of other competing networks not only need to purchase their recharge coupons in their home network, but also cannot recharge while roaming. However, AirTel prepaid customers would have the easy way out by simply walking into an Easy Charge outlet. The customers would be able to recharge their prepaid cards with a denomination value of their choice, that too by just sending an SMS. Alternatively, they would also have the advantage of buying a “National Recharge Coupon” of any value they want, be it Rs 300, Rs 500 or Rs 810. The coupon can be bought from any Airtel retail outlet across any of the 15 AirTel networks.

Azadi To Go Mobile For Just Rs 1947 or 2999     

AirTel has tied up with leading handset manufacturers Motorola and Samsung to further lower the effective entry cost of going mobile. The details are as follows:

 **Prices to marginally vary depending on taxes in various states