look news india
New Delhi. The fear of huge mobile bills while traveling abroad or the rush to buy a local SIM card as soon as you land at the airport is now going to be a thing of the past. The country’s leading telecom operator Vodafone Idea Limited (Vodafone Idea – Vi) has made a big and revolutionary announcement for its customers. The company has announced inbuilt free international roaming with select prepaid, postpaid and enterprise (corporate) plans under its new brand theme ‘Vi Pe Sab Hai VIP’ and ‘Roam Like Home’ initiative.
After this announcement, now Indian travelers will not need to buy expensive International Roaming (IR) packs separately when going to another country. Customers will be able to avail internet data, outgoing and incoming calling facilities abroad from their existing Indian number. According to telecom experts, this move of Vodafone-Idea will prove to be a big strategic bet to attract customers and strengthen the premium user base compared to Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.
Usually, the biggest pain point that travelers face when they go abroad is that they turn off mobile data due to fear of exorbitant bills and rely only on hotel Wi-Fi. Due to this, basic services like OTP of bank transactions, important business emails and Google Maps get disrupted.
Under this new facility of Vi, customers will be able to use their Indian number in more than 170 countries of the world without any interruption. These countries include all the major tourism and business centers like America, Britain, UAE, Singapore, Thailand, Europe and Australia. The company claims that this inbuilt roaming feature will provide direct savings of approximately ₹ 9,000 annually to customers traveling abroad frequently.
The company has clarified that this benefit is not bundled with every general basic plan, but with select premium and long-term plans:
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Postpaid Users: Customers availing monthly postpaid plans of ₹501 and above (which includes the popular REDX and other premium individual and family plans) will get this bundled facility.
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Prepaid Users: Customers who use Vi’s annual (365 days) unlimited data prepaid packs will get the benefit of this free international roaming.
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Enterprise and Corporate Customers: This inbuilt roaming feature is provided in enterprise postpaid plans starting from ₹451 for corporate and business accounts.
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Annual Trips Limit: Customers can use this free roaming quota for a maximum of 3 international trips in a year (Up to 3 Trips per year) depending on the plan category. The data quota and free outgoing calling minutes prescribed for each trip will be as per the plan.
If you are using an eligible Vi plan and planning to travel abroad, the process to get started is very simple and digital:
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First of all, go to Google Play Store or Apple App Store on your smartphone. Vi App Update to the latest version.
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Log in to the app with your Vi number and click on the following steps given on the home screen ‘Roam-Free’ Or go to International Roaming option.
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Enter the destination country of your travel and dates of travel.
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If your plan is eligible for this facility, the option of Free Inbuilt Roaming Activation will appear on the screen.
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Once you click on ‘Activate’, your international roaming service will be enabled and as soon as you land at the airport of another country, your phone will automatically connect to the local partner network there.
Amidst the process of 5G network expansion and capital raising in the telecom sector, Vodafone-Idea has emphasized on lifestyle and travel based value-added services for customer retention. According to Avnish Khosla, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Vi, till now international roaming was considered expensive and complicated, but the company has changed it from ‘By Roaming’ to the new thinking of ‘Your number travels with you for free’.
It will now be possible for students, corporate professionals and tourists going on foreign tours to get bank OTP on their Indian number without changing the SIM and stay connected with their loved ones without any additional bill.