Kerala floods: How Jio, Airtel, other telecom operators are helping by providing free calls, data

Incessant rainfall and floods have severely devastated the normal life in Kerala, affecting lakhs of people living there. The government had issued red alert across the state due to heavy downpour, which has already resulted in the deaths of 324 people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday conducted an aerial survey and chaired a high-level meeting to get a first-hand knowledge of the damaged caused by the southwest monsoon. Leading telecom companies like Airtel, Vodafone, Jio, BSNL, and Idea have also come forward to provide benefits to their customers by offering data and call benefits.

For prepaid customers, Bharti Airtel is offering auto approval of talk time credit worth Rs 30 in the state. The amount will be credited automatically to Airtel’s prepaid customers’ number and will have to be paid later. The prepaid users will also get a mobile data of 1 GB with a validity of seven days. Along with this, the company has made free all STD and local calls made to Airtel numbers from August 17, 2018, to August 19, 2018. While, for Postpaid customers, the company is offering an extension on bill payment and uninterrupted services. The company is also delivering free Wi-fi and calling people by setting up five VSAT centers. Apart from these, the company has set 30 stores in Thrissur, Calicut, Malappuram, Kannur, Kottayam, Thiruvananthapuram, and Ernakulam where anyone can come to charge their phones.

Reliance Jio is offering unlimited voice calls and data access to its customers for a week so that they can stay in touch with their relatives, family, and friends.

For prepaid customers, Vodafone is offering talk time of Rs 30 and 1 GB of mobile data to its customers. To activate data, the customers need to send a text message saying CREDIT to 144 or by dialing *130*1#. While for postpaid customers, the company has given an extension on bill payments.

For prepaid customers, Aditya Birla’s Idea is providing an emergency credit of Rs 10 to all subscribers. Subscribers need to dial *150*150# to get the talk time. The customers will also get 1 GB data free valid for 7 days. For its postpaid customers, the company has given an extension on bill payments.

Meanwhile, state-owned BSNL is offering free calls to both BSNL and non-BSNL numbers, limited to 20 minutes per day. It is also offering SMS and mobile data to customers residing in flood-affected areas of Kerala that will be free for the next 7 days beginning Thursday.

Over 3.14 lakh people were moved to relief camps for shelter. The state is facing its worst flood in last 100 years with 80 dams opened resulted in the spate of all rivers.