Exclusive: In the note to providers of Value Added Services (VAS), Bharti Airtel has instituted fresh guidelines regarding of billing of VAS. A copy of the email, from S Ravikumar (Chief Supply Chain Officer Operations), is with MediaNama possession, and its receipt has been verified by multiple VAS companies. In India, where most subscribers are pre-paid, services and content are often provided in a monthly billing format, sometimes with daily subscription charges. Negative charging, which involved billing of customers when there is less than adequate balance on their account, is being removed in many cases, though not all. Today when a prepaid customer with a balance of Rs 2 opts for a service of Rs 10, telecom operators charge Rs 2 and give a credit of Rs 8, which is charged when the customer recharges the prepaid service next. With these changes, Airtel appears to be moving from a 'line-of-credit' model of billing, to a sachet pricing model, by reducing instances of negative billing. More importantly, the company has also instituted specific guidelines for First Time Activations, First Time Renewals of a Value Added Service, step up charging, among others. We're requested Airtel for inputs on the rationale behind these changes in rules, and will update once we get a response. One reason could possibly be that there are customers who use a service, are extended a line of credit, and never recharge, thus leaving the telecom operator with receivables. Indian telecom customers use multiple SIMs. (Note: One criticism we…
