Airtel has seemingly withdrawn the free ZEE5 premium subscription it was offering alongside many of its prepaid plans since late May. According to NDTV Gadgets, the offer is still available with the new Rs. 289 plan that was launched last week. However, when we checked, it wasn’t available with any prepaid plan, including the Rs. 289 STV. Instead, I was being offered an Amazon Prime membership with the Rs. 349 STV, as can be seen in the screenshot below.
The Rs. 349 plan comes with 2GB of daily data alongside unlimited calls and 100 SMSes per day for 28 days, while the Rs. 289 plan comes with 1.5GB of data per day alongside the same additional benefits. It is also valid for 28 days. As you might have guessed by now, none of the STVs, which also came with the free ZEE5 subscription over the past few weeks, are offering the benefit anymore. Both the Airtel website and the Airtel Thanks app have removed the ZEE5 Premium subscription offer from all plans.
Airtel, in May, announced a partnership with Zee TV to offer free ZEE5 subscription on Airtel Thanks. The offer, which went live on May 31st, was available to all Infinity Postpaid customers upgrading to the new Infinity plans worth Rs. 499, Rs. 749, Rs. 999 & Rs. 1599. It was also available with a number of prepaid combo plans from Airtel.
Airtel has seen a revival of sorts in recent months following years or shrinking profits and eroding subscribers. The company has just become the second-largest carrier in India, replacing the struggling Vodafone Idea. Of course, it was once the nation’s leading wireless before the emergence of Reliance Jio and the merger of Vodafone Idea relegated it to the third spot.
What is the point of this story. This doesnt explain why this has gone off the shelf. Rather than just putting out copy paste stories, better that there is some analysis as well.