Ufone said that new balance inquiry charges will be applicable from May 25th, while Mobilink hasn’t mentioned any date for new charges yet. We are sure that other operators will announce similar increase in balance inquiry with-in weeks.
After this increase, balance inquiries will be charged at 20 paisas per transaction, excluding taxes – or 24 paisas per balance inquiry including taxes.
It maybe recalled that idea of paid balance inquires was first introduced in July 2009, and all balance inquires – which were previously free – were charged at 10 paisas plus tax.
Later, in April 2012, operators revised this rate and increased balance inquiry charges to 15 paisas plus tax, which are now again increased to 20 paisas per balance inquiry plus taxes.
It is interesting to note here that customers keep on innovating new ways of checking their balance for free, such as, through web portals or through various USSD codes that aren’t charged.