RCOM starts offering unlimited WhatsApp for Rs. 16 per month

Reliance Communications (RCOM) Monday said it has partnered with WhatsApp in India and has launched two new plans. Under these plans RCOM subscribers will get unlimited social media access for Rs. 16 per month without paying any extra data consumption charges.

The WhatsApp Plan, has a validity of 30 days and offers unlimited access of WhatsApp Messenger to all prepaid Reliance GSM customers.

The other plan launched is My College Plan plan, which offers unlimited social media access of WhatsApp to all college students for Rs. 16 per month and also allows calls and SMS within the student specified group on the Reliance network at a discounted rate of 5 paise per minute. This plan also allows subscribers to send a SMS to the entire college in one go for Rs. 3. All one has to do is send that SMS to 51112. This plan is available for most colleges across the country, and user can activate the same by sending an SMS "SUB followed by college id" to 51111. One can find the college id from here.

Through these aggressively priced plans RCOM is trying to increase the data usage which in turn may help this telecom provider to push its ARPU (Average Revenue per user) northwards.

Launching these plans, Sanjay Behl, Group Head (Brand and Marketing), Reliance Communications Limited said, "We are thrilled to offer the first of its kind offering of sharing unlimited text, music, pictures and videos to our customers through our exclusive partnership with WhatsApp in India. We are confident that 'WhatsApp Plan' and 'My College Plan' with unlimited usage of WhatsApp is set to provide a compelling new experience with incredible affordability to smartphone users across the country on our superior network along with free Facebook surfing as an introductory offer for a limited period."

Commenting on this association with Reliance Communications in India WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton said, "With the rapid growth of smartphones in India, we are delighted to partner with Reliance Communications. We are currently working with industry leaders across countries and this exclusive partnership will enable millions of Reliance customers to experience the most innovative way to send messages, music, pictures and videos to leverage the power of data through their smart communication devices."

(With inputs from PTI)