Airtel, the mobile operating company, on Thursday relaunched its AirtelThanks programme under which it will offer differentiated services and customised content to its mobile subscribers depending upon their monthly tariff plan.
The company aims to increase the stickiness of its users, besides attracting new 4G users into its fold.
For the first time, Amazon Prime membership will be available to prepaid users as well as part of its Thanks programme. Airtel has launched a Rs 299 plan bundled with Amazon Prime membership which will give 2.5 gb/day and unlimited calls for 28 days to a prepaid user.
The AirtelThanks programme will now come with silver, gold and platinum tiers where customised benefits will be offered to each customer. Higher tiers will open bigger and more exciting benefits, besides content, device and security services, financial services, VIP customer care & surprise offers from top brands.
DNA Money on March 3 had reported the company's plan to use its mobile application like a reward programme – if you are an Airtel Thanks member, then at different tiers, different things will open up for you, free of cost which will be exclusive and customised for every user. The thanks platform will be one of the strategic pillars and a lot of upgrading will be done around it.
ALSO READ: Airtel to offer users gamut of services via app
As per the third quarter figures, the company had 77 million 4G users, accounting for 27% of its total subscriber base at 284 million.
The company's app has been renamed "Airtel Thanks", which uses strong data-science and segmentation algorithms to customise the user experiences, based on user interests and profiles.
Silver tier is an entry to the world of basic content – AirtelTV and Wynk. With Gold, customers get access to add on telecom benefits and premium content or financial services. With Platinum, customers will get VIP service from Airtel, premium content, e-books, device protection, and exclusive invites and priority access to events and sales.
"AirtelThanks is an ambitious program that is built on deep technology and incredible partnerships. We are evolving the program to deliver highly differentiated experiences that are tailored to our customers' needs. We are also segmenting our customer base and ensuring that our high-value customers get VIP service. We are investing in data science, machine learning and smart APIs to develop these experiences in partnership with digital first brands like Amazon," Adarsh Nair, chief product officer, Bharti Airtel, said in a statement.
The Amazon Prime membership will be activated through Airtel Thanks app, and one can then access Prime Video on all supported devices. Customers can enjoy the Prime access as long as they are active on the bundle, the statement said.
The Amazon Prime benefits to its new prepaid pack is an industry first, Airtel said in the statement.
AirtelThanks was first started in October last year and offered access -- Wynk, Airtel TV and other content offerings from Amazon Prime, ZEE5 and Netflix -- to Airtel app subscribers who committed a monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) of Rs 100.
The company has been focusing on content to drive its data usage as well as retain its mobile users, given the aggressive competition unleashed by new player Reliance Jio since its entry in late 2016. With similar tariffs across the telecom players, there is a mad rush to create differentiation in terms of content and quality of network to enhance the stickiness of users to a particular player.
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