Bharti Airtel (Airtel) on Sunday has announced benefits worth ₹270 crore to help 55 million low-income customers tide over the impact of Covid-19 through special benefits on its network to help them stay connected during this pandemic.

As a one-time gesture, Airtel will give the ₹49 pack free of cost to over 55 million low-income customers. The company said in a statement adding that these benefits will be available to the customers in the coming week.

"The pack offers a talktime of ₹38 and 100 MB data with a validity of 28 days. Through this gesture, Airtel will empower over 55 million customers, mostly in rural areas, to stay connected and have access to critical information when needed," it said.

The company also mentioned that since customers have an increased requirement of staying connected, Airtel prepaid customers buying the ₹79 Recharge Coupon will now get double the benefit. "This will make it easier for them to stay connected at a difficult time," it added.

Recently, Reliance Jio had also announced two special initiatives for the pandemic period -- to provide 300 free minutes of outgoing calls per month (10 minutes per day) for the entire period of the pandemic, to JioPhone users who have not been able to recharge due to the ongoing pandemic -- and additionally, to further enhance affordability, for every JioPhone plan recharged by JioPhone user.

They will get an additional recharge plan of the same value for free. So, for example, a JioPhone user recharging with a ₹75 plan will get an additional ₹75 plan absolutely free, it said.