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Vodafone Idea (Vi) Brings Rs. 51, Rs. 301 Prepaid Recharge Packs With Health Insurance Benefits

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has partnered with Aditya Birla Health Insurance to launch the Rs. 51 SMS and Rs. 301 Combo prepaid recharge packs with health insurance benefits. The two packs cover Rs. 1,000 worth of hospitalisation expenses per day on medical exigencies including COVID-19 for up to 10 days per event, and Rs. 2,000 per day on ICU expenses. The insurance benefits are available for an age group between 18 and 55 years. While the Rs. 51 Vi prepaid recharge pack is provided as an add-on pack that can be added to an existing pack, the Rs. 301 recharge pack can be applied as a standalone prepaid plan.

Called ‘Vi Hospicare’, Both Rs. 51 and Rs. 301 Vi prepaid recharge packs come with the same list of health insurance benefits. With both packs, users will be covered for Rs. 1,000 worth of hospitalisation expenses per day for up to 10 days. The packs also include the Rs. 2,000 daily insurance benefit for ICU treatment that can be extended by 28 days on every continuous recharge.

The health insurance coverage offered by Aditya Birla Health Insurance is claimed to be applicable for all major hospitals, including government hospitals as well as private allopathy and AYUSH hospitals. Vi customers will be able to claim the benefit by showing a scanned copy of their discharge certificate, which will then be verified, the telecom operator said.
In addition to the health insurance benefits, the Rs. 51 Vi prepaid recharge pack brings 500 SMS messages for 28 days. The Rs. 301 Vi prepaid recharge pack, on the other hand, includes 1.5GB daily data along with 2GB additional data as well as unlimited voice calls. Both Rs. 51 and Rs. 301 recharge packs come with 28 days of validity.

The insurance benefits are notably applicable to customers between 18-55 years of age and in sound health. The customers are also required to not have a hazardous occupation. Vi has provided the terms and conditions on a dedicated page.

Similar to Vi, Airtel collaborated with HDFC Life I

[“source=gadgets360”]

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Tech Update

Xiaomi Redmi 5A in India, Vodafone Micromax Cashback, Bharat 5 Launch Date, and More: Your 360 Daily

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Xiaomi Redmi 5A in India, Vodafone Micromax Cashback, Bharat 5 Launch Date, and More: Your 360 Daily

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Xiaomi Redmi 5A price in India starts at Rs. 4,999 (inaugural offer)
  • Micromax Bharat 5 to launch in India on Friday
  • Google’s Datally app available to download on Android

Xiaomi Redmi 5A was launched in India on Thursday, with a nice introductory pricing offer for the first five million units sold in the country. The smartphone was launched at a price of Rs. 5,999 for the 2GB RAM/ 16GB storage variant, but at launch the price will be Rs. 4,999 for the first five million buyers. The Redmi 5A will go on sale on Flipkart, Mi.com, and Mi Home offline stores in India on December 7 at 12 pm. There’s another variant of the smartphone, with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage, which is priced at Rs. 5,999.

The price of the more expensive variant of the Xiaomi Redmi 5A will remain the same for the foreseeable future as the company has not announced any discounts. While this discount offer is quite straightforward, there’s also a convoluted mess of an offer around if you want one. In this case, it’s Reliance Jio’s “additional Rs. 1,000 cashback” offer for the Xiaomi Redmi 5A. Think we’re being harsh? Just wait until you try to decipher the fine print involved in this latest “effective price” gimmick.

To avail this additional cashback, Redmi 5A users will have to recharge their accounts with the Rs. 199 Jio pack for 12 months. After this, they’ll get 10 vouchers of Rs. 100 each and these can only be redeemed one at a time on a recharge of Rs. 309 or above. See our point now? Sure, there’s some kind of a discount involved here, but it arrives quite late and requires you to use 10 discount vouchers over 10 months, by which point you probably would’ve moved to a different smartphone and probably a different carrier too.

Here’s everything else that made news in the world of technology today.

Vodafone announces ‘Rs. 2,200 cashback’ on some Micromax phones
Vodafone India has announced a tie-up with Micromax to offer cashbacks on some budget Micromax 4G smartphones. This offer is valid on the Micromax Bharat 2 Plus, Micromax Bharat 3, Micromax Bharat 4, and Micromax Canvas 1. If you thought the Jio Redmi 5A offer was complicated, prepare to be amazed as Vodafone’s Micromax offer is just as convoluted. To avail this cashback, you will have to make recharges worth Rs. 150 per month for three years. After the first 18 months, you’ll get a cashback of Rs. 900, and after three years, you’ll get a cashback of Rs. 1,300. Both these cashback offers will be credited to your Vodafone M-Pesa wallet. Yes, we weren’t kidding about the complexity of these offers.

Micromax to launch Bharat 5 in India
Micromax doesn’t want to be left behind while Xiaomi launches one budget phone after another. The Indian smartphone maker is going to launch Bharat 5 in the country just a day after the launch of the Xiaomi Redmi 5A. If you go by the invite that the company has sent, you’d suspect that the smartphone has a huge battery, perhaps even 5000mAh and could feature fast charging. Micromax brought its Bharat range of smartphones to counter the surge of other affordable phones in the market, and it appears that Bharat 5 will be the latest effort in that direction.

This new Google app lets you keep data usage in check
Google has launched an app called Datally to help Android users keep an eye on mobile data usage. The app lets you track the data consumed by individual apps and lets you shut down data access for individual apps. It also gives you information on nearby public Wi-Fi networks, with some comments on the quality of these networks. Datally is clearly targeted at developing nations where data limits are small and people’s ability to buy packs with lots of data is limited. Until very recently, this would’ve been very useful in India, but with the arrival of Reliance Jio and the subsequent competition in the Indian telecom market, large data caps have become quite common in the country. That makes Datally less useful, but it’s still a good tool to have, one that makes us wonder why these features aren’t built in on an OS level.

Panasonic Eluga C with ‘bezel-less’ display launched
Large displays with limited bezels have become the smartphone trend of 2017 and now even Panasonic has joined the party. The Panasonic Eluga C features a bezel-less display and a dual camera setup. The phone has been launched in Taiwan at a price of TWD 6,000, which is equivalent to Rs. 12,900. The Panasonic Eluga C features a 5.5-inch display that has ultra-thin bezels and comes with an HD (720×1280 pixels) resolution. The smartphone is powered by an octa-core MediaTek MT6750T SoC clocked at 1.5GHz, coupled with 4GB of RAM. Panasonic has provided 13-megapixel + 5-megapixel camera sensors at the back of the Eluga C and an 8-megapixel camera on the front.

Windows 10 now has 600 million active devices
Windows 10 is now running on 600 million active devices, according to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who made the announcement at Microsoft’s annual shareholders meeting, according to a report from GeekWire. The number includes the following devices: desktops, tablets, Xbox One consoles, HoloLens headsets, and Surface Hub devices, apart from Windows 10 Mobile smartphones. Microsoft has admitted that it won’t be able to reach its goal of 1 billion active Windows 10 devices within three years of the operating system’s 2015 launch.

Samsung is the world’s largest smartphone brand: Gartner
Market research firm Gartner has claimed that Samsung took the top spot in smartphone sales globallyin the third quarter of 2017. The company claimed that Samsung has a 22.3 percent market share in the smartphone market across the world, with Apple being a distant second at 11.9 percent and Huawei, with 9.5 percent, being in third place. Gartner added that global smartphone sales stand at 383 million units in the third quarter of 2017. It attributed Samsung’s return to the top to Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, and Galaxy Note 8 sales.

Apple fixes embarrassing macOS security flaw
Apple has fixed a critical bug in macOS High Sierra, one that could give hackers total control of vulnerable machines. The company has announced that it will review its software development process  to ensure that this kind of a bug doesn’t get shipped to people who use its products. Apple also apologised to all Mac users for this embarrassing bug, which just needed potential hackers to have physical access to vulnerable computer and let them have complete control over the computer without entering a password.

Snapchat unveils redesigned app
Snapchat has revamped its app to focus more on personal content than posts from publishers. The app now separates your feed into separate streams for publishers and your friends. Snapchat relies on algorithms to curate your feed based on your interests. The company has claimed that this change will also help publishers make more money on the platform, which has 178 million daily active users.

Android co-founder takes leave of absence from his new startup
Andy Rubin, a former Google executive who’s best known as the co-founder of Android, has taken a leave of absence from his smartphone startup Essential, according to a statement from the startup. Online news outlet The Information had earlier reported that Rubin left Google in 2014 after an internal inquiry found that he’d entered into a relationship with a subordinate. After this report was published, Rubin went on a leave of absence from Essential, but the startup refused to reveal the length of his absence. Essential said Rubin asked for leave to deal with personal matters.

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

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Gadgets News

Jio Phone to Hit Telecom Sector, Erode Revenues: Vodafone to DoT

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Jio Phone to Hit Telecom Sector, Erode Revenues: Vodafone to DoT

The country’s second largest telecom player Vodafone expects Jio’s ‘effective free phone’ with unlimited calling to erode operators’ revenues which are already under pressure and sought reduction in various levies imposed by the government as a breather to the industry.

“…the new operator continues to aggressively under-price its services, including announcing launch of ‘Effective Zero Price Feature Phone’ with unlimited voice.

“This is likely to cause further erosion in revenue for existing operators,” the company in a letter to the Telecom Commission Member (Finance) Anuradha Mitra.

RIL Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani recently launched JioPhone, a 4G feature phone at a one-time fully refundable deposit of Rs. 1,500 per unit. JioPhone beta testing starts from August 15. The booking will start from September 24 online as well as through Reliance Retail and Jio stores.

Vodafone said there is continuous decline in its revenue from telecom services and it has recorded further decline of 3.41 percent in the the quarter ended June 2017.

It also called for reducing the interest rate applied for deferred spectrum payments.

“…a reduction in the interest rate applied for deferred spectrum payments is necessary to reduce burden on operators.

Hence, we have requested reduction from 10 percent to G Sec rate of 6.25 percent – 6.5 percent on deferred payment,” the letter said.

Vodafone said that revenue share with the government imposes huge burden on telecom operators even though companies purchase spectrum at market price.

The company requested the DoT to consider recommendation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for reducing Universal Service Obligation Fund from 5 percent to 3 percent as private operators have already rolled out services in rural areas and current call termination rates are very low.

“…despite having rolled out in rural areas, we still have to pay USO and the mobile termination rates are also below cost which adversely impact us since majority of the calls in the rural areas are incoming,” the letter said.

At present, a telecom operator charges 14 paise for every incoming call that it gets from network of other operators.

“Therefore, we earnestly request kind consideration and early decision on reduction in the USO levy from 5 percent to 3 percent and reduction of interest charges along with rescheduling the payment period, which has been tabled before DoT and IMG (inter-ministerial group),” Vodafone said.

As per official data, revenues of telecom operators from services dipped by about 15 percent to Rs. 40,831 crores in the January-March quarter this year compared to Rs. 48,379 crores in the same period of last year.

The government has formed an IMG which is expected to submit its recommendation very soon to address financial woes of the telecom sector.

[“source=gadgets.ndtv”]

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