Telecom operator Vodafone Idea on Thursday announced its voice-based contactless recharge facility at retail outlets to enable customers and retailers to adhere to social distancing in the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic.
As retail outlets in various orange and green zones across the country start to open, Vodafone Idea is ensuring complete implementation of social distancing protocol at its stores, the company said in a statement.
This recharge will work via the company’s Smart Connect retailer app which allows retailers to recharge without having to give the phone to the customer to enter their mobile numbers. The customer or retailer can simply speak out the ten-digit mobile number on the device and the Google voice-enabled feature will capture the command from a distance of up to ten feet. Currently, the voice-based feature supports Hindi and English language and can take commands on the mobile number in different variations as well. The company will add more languages in the coming days.
“In order to facilitate contactless recharges, Smart Connect is now enabled with voice-based recharge feature and is available at all Vodafone Idea’s own stores and multi-branded stores,” Vodafone Idea said in a statement.
Vodafone recently increased the price of its RedX postpaid plan in India. The plan was launched in November last year at Rs 999. The telecom company has raised the price by Rs 100 which now costs Rs 1,099. For those unaware, RedX is a limited edition plan for the postpaid customers of Vodafone. The plan offers faster data speeds along with benefits worth Rs 20,000 that include access to airport lounges, international roaming services and more.
In addition, the subscribers of the Vodafone RedX plan get free unlimited local and STD calls. The users also get free 100 local, national and roaming SMS free. Post this, the messages are charged at 25 paise per SMS for local and national.
In India, economic and business activities are now slowly restarting outside containment zones, and partial movement has resumed within states in the third phase of the lockdown.
