Indian mobile operators withdraw discount texting on peak traffic days
Mobile operators have suddenly withdrawn the discounted benefits for SMSs on some “key†days of the year when the load is heavy.
 Operators like Hutch, Idea and Airtel have sent messages to their customers saying that that “discount schemes will not be applicable on festive days like Christmas, Diwali, New Year, Valentine’s Day, among others.â€
Citing absolute rubbish reasons like ‘oh, it’s a bit busy’ or ‘lots of people text on Christmas day’, Indian mobile operators are doing their best to screw over their customers, according to this article.
If you’ve bought a special discounted text deal, then screw you — with bells on — during peak traffic days. Why? Well, there’s inelastic demand for mobile texting on peak festive days. Ergo, why bother giving you discounted rates? You’re going to text anyway, so you might as well pay for it. Such is the argument from the mobile operators.
Rubbish excuses like ‘we’re expecting lots of texts’ don’t cut it.
Luckily, I’m several continents away and whilst my heart rate is off the charts at this news, I think I can — yes, I can — I can walk away from this without exploding.
Not only this, Airtel has also withdrawn flexibility to change monthly plans. Earlier they used to accept change in bill plan from the next day, which has now been changed to the next billing cycle.
Wonder why we can’t have clear advance notices about such things from the operators? They change policies at will and the customer suffers.
Posted by Ashish on December 28th, 2006 at 5:42 am.