New Delhi, Jan. 23: AirTel, the cellular mobile operator, today launched two pre-paid schemes as part of its aggressive market expansion plan aimed to achieve a 150 per cent growth in its subscriber base.

The company has launched a scheme that would allow a pre-paid subscriber to refill any amount above Rs 50 without having to buy a coupon.

“A customer can walk into any one of the 50,000 Airtel retail outlets in the country and get a recharge for any amount. It could be Rs 51 or Rs 57.75. The retailers have been provided a special SIM card. The retailer will enter the subscriber’s mobile number and the amount on his mobile and the details will be reflected on his and the subscriber’s mobile phone,” said Pratik Pota, vice-president (marketing), Bharti Tele-Ventures.

“We will soon have a rate list and the talk time value will be printed and posted on the retail outlets for customers to know the amount for which they would like to recharge their mobile,” said Pota.

Customers can also enjoy the convenience of anytime recharge. AirTel prepaid customers would also be able to recharge their prepaid cards while roaming in any of the 15 AirTel networks across India.

The company has launched recharge coupons in three denominations — Rs 50 (talk time of Rs 25), Rs 100 (Rs 50 talk time) and Rs 200 (talk time of Rs 116). The validity of the Rs 50 coupon will be three days, while the Rs 100 will be valid for one week and Rs 200 will have 15 days validity.

Meanwhile, AirTel has tied up with leading handset manufacturers Motorola and Samsung. Customers can now go mobile either at Rs 1,499 or at Rs 1,999 depending on their handset budget. However, the offer is not available in Calcutta.

Hutch offer

Reacting to the AirTel scheme. Hutch announced a unique voucherless prepaid refill service called 'eTopUp' that offers complete freedom to recharge for any denomination. The facility will soon be available in over 100 select Hutch retail outlets only in Delhi, Mumbai and Ahemadabad.