Thousands of Airtel users who redeemed the telecom operator’s complimentary one-year Perplexity Pro subscription are now noticing a ‘paused’ status on their accounts. While this might be alarming, the status does not necessarily indicate that the subscription has been canceled.
Instead, it signals that the promotional period has ended and users must now decide whether to upgrade to a paid Perplexity Pro plan.
Airtel’s limited-time offer was launched in partnership with Perplexity in July 2025. Eligible prepaid, postpaid, broadband and DTH customers got a free one-year Perplexity Pro subscription valued at around Rs. 17,000. The offer is closed to new users. Those who activated before the deadline keep access until their 12-month subscription runs out.
A paused subscription indicates that the promotional period has ended and that the user must choose whether to upgrade to a paid plan. The user has to provide a valid payment method and pay for a monthly or yearly subscription plan to use the premium AI services.
This does not mean that the account is deleted. If the user opts to subscribe to another subscription plan, then he/she will have access to the Pro version again.
Users who don't plan to upgrade to a paid subscription package should check their account before the trial expires. If a payment method has been added, users should cancel automatic renewal using the Billing or Subscriptions section. This ensures that no additional charges are made after the expiration of the trial.
According to Airtel’s FAQs, subscriptions may automatically renew depending on the billing cycle chosen after the expiry of the trial period unless the user cancels the automatic renewal before the subscription expires. The promotion of Perplexity Pro on Airtel has been stopped for new activations. However, existing users will have this facility only till the expiry of their validity of 12 months.
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