Airtel launches Online Account Management & Itemized billing for Pre-paid customers

Post paid mobile users had a major advantage over pre-paid users till now – They could easily manage all aspects of their mobile & value added services through Operator’s website. Pre-paid users on the other hand did not have any such facility.

However, according to recent TRAI directives, telecom operators in India were asked to provide similar services to pre-paid users as in case of post-paid users.

Taking note of TRAI’s directives, Airtel today launched India’s first online self care services for its prepaid mobile users. Now, Airtel prepaid mobile customers can simply log onto Airtel’s website and start managing their mobile accounts.

Airtel users can not only request for detailed itemized bills, but also manage various services like activating 3G, subscribing or stopping VAS services, raising and tracking service requests etc. The self care services portal also allows users to recharge their mobile services online.

It is great to see Airtel launching these services for its prepaid users in less than a month since TRAI’s directive came into effect.

Over 95% of Indian mobile subscribers are pre-paid subscribers and very soon we will see all operators follow suite and launch similar services for their subscribers as well.

However, offering these services may affect Telecom Operator’s bottom line, as post-paid customers are more lucrative (from ARPU’s perspective) than pre-paid customers. Now, with pre-paid customers also getting similar facilities, there is little reason to go for a post-paid mobile connection.

What do you think?