Vodafone Idea Withdraws Claims of RedX Plan Offering 50% Faster Data Speed

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has dropped the 50-percent faster internet speed claims from its premium RedX plan, amid investigations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which is looking at a violation of service norms by Vi. The 50 percent faster internet speed claim has been removed from the Vi RedX website, which now talks about other benefits that the RedX plan offers. According to a PTI report, sources said Vi has filed a revised RedX plan with the TRAI. In the new, revised plan submitted with the TRAI, Vi has withdrawn the claim of “priority 4G network as compared to other Vodafone postpaid plans” altogether, according to the report. However, the Vi RedX website still shows “priority help through virtual relationship manager” as one of the benefits of the plan.

The TRAI has been probing the Vi RedX plan for some time now. In July, TRAI had withheld the RedX plan asking the company to not sign up new customers. The regulator, on August 25, issued a show-cause notice to Vi, asking the company why appropriate action should not be taken against it for violating the extant regulatory framework by its RedX plan. TRAI said that the claim of Vi for providing priority 4G network with faster data speeds is not in compliance with the extant regulatory framework. The TRAI is looking at Vi’s RedX plan and Aitel’s Platinum Offering to see if preference to specific customers leads to deterioration of services for other non-premium subscribers. Vi has alleged that TRAI’s probe comes after a complaint by its competitor Jio, which has, in the past called the RedX plan discriminatory and misleading, according to a LiveMint report.

The Vi RedX website now talks about benefits in terms of entertainment privileges (free Netflix and Amazon subscriptions for a year), travel privileges (airport lounge access, and international roaming), among other benefits like unlimited calls and data, and special deals on Samsung devices.

Vi had launched the RedX Premium plan in November 2019 at a starting price of Rs 999 per month. The tariff was increased to Rs 1,099 in May 2020.