Here's why telecom companies reduced prepaid plans' validity to 28 days from 30

We all used to do our monthly mobile recharge for 30 days. But now it has been reduced to 28 days. But have you ever thought about the reason behind it? 

We will tell you today why telecom operators offer the so-called “monthly” prepaid plans for 28 days. And don't be surprised in future if the "monthly" plans go even below 28 days. 

If you have ever calculated, subscribers who opt for the monthly plan recharge 13 times a year and not 12 times as they think. Here's how. 

Let's do a little maths

12 months x 28 days validity come to 336 days, which is 29 days less in 365 days/ a year. 

This means you have to recharge 13 times in a year.  

The calculation goes like 28 days x 13 months = 364 days.

You will be surprised to know that in this 13th recharge, the telecom operators such as Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone-idea earn crores of money. 

Similar case in quarterly plans (84 days) 

The same calculation applies to the so-called quarterly plans, which offer 84 days validity instead of 90 days. Subscribers opting for quarterly plans get only 336 days of service on the fourth recharge with 29 days remaining for the year.

TRAI issues new guideline

On January 27, 2022, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had issued a significant directive to telecom operators, wherein it has mandated them to also offer 30-day validity recharge packs apart from the 28-day offers. 

As per the guideline, every Telecom Service Providers will have to offer “at least one Plan Voucher, one Special Tariff Voucher and one Combo Voucher having a validity of 30 days.