Call now, pay later

Mobile operators are rolling out credit facilities for pre-paid users in a bid to help them make important calls even after their talk-time is exhausted fully.

Reliance Communications launched such a plan earlier this week. The latest to join the bandwagon is Aircel.

On Thursday, Aircel rolled out its ‘Extra Credit Service, under which the GSM operator will provide its users an instant ₹10 loan. Users can avail themselves of the loan when their balance drops below ₹10.

“Sometimes the mobile phones run out of balance at crucial times and it causes a lot of inconvenience to customers. With this service, we aim to ensure that our customers are connected 24x7,” said Anupam Vasudev, Chief Marketing Officer at Aircel, which has partnered with mCarbon for the service.

On Monday, RCom had launched a credit facility. The scheme, TalkLoan, has been launched for its pre-paid GSM subscribers across the country. The company will provide an instant loan of either ₹5 or ₹10 to users who have less than ₹10.

Subscribers will have to dial a pre-allocated number for the service. Both the companies will recover the loan amount on subsequent recharges, along with a nominal transaction fee.

Earlier, Vodafone India had introduced low-balance services for its customers, such as balance transfer (peer-to-peer balance) and chota credit, enabling customers to borrow balance for a nominal fee when they ran out.

Last year, Bharti Airtel had launched a similar service across all its service areas. The GSM operator, like others, also provides a credit of ₹10.

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