In a first, Airtel partners with Blinkit to deliver SIM card in 10 minutes

In a first-of-its-kind move by a telecom operator in India, Bharti Airtel on Tuesday announced a partnership with quick-commerce platform Blinkit to deliver SIM cards to customers’ doorsteps within 10 minutes.

The service is now live in 16 cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata, with plans to add more cities and towns over a period of time.

Customers opting for this service will be charged a convenience fee of ₹49.

After the SIM card is delivered, customers can activate it from their home using Aadhaar-based eKYC, the company said.

Customers will have the option to choose from both postpaid and prepaid plans or trigger an MNP for porting into the Airtel network, it added.

“Simplifying customer lives is central to everything we do at Airtel,” said Siddharth Sharma, CEO – Connected Homes and Director of Marketing, Bharti Airtel. “We are thrilled to partner with Blinkit for 10-minute SIM card delivery to customers’ homes across 16 cities and in due course of time we plan to expand this partnership to additional cities.”

Albinder Dhindsa, Founder and CEO of Blinkit, added, “To save customers time and hassle, we’ve collaborated with Airtel to deliver SIM cards directly to customers in select cities, with delivery in just 10 minutes.”

The activation process can be initiated via an online link with guidance from a video walkthrough.

Customers will be required to activate the SIM within 15 days of delivery.

The cities which currently can avail the service are: Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, Ahmedabad, Surat, Chennai, Bhopal, Indore, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, Jaipur, Kolkata, and Hyderabad.