Airtel Smart Premier Tariff Plan in Nigeria and SmartLife
Smart Premier and its *318# code are gone from Airtel's website. For heavy callers the nearest plan is SmartLife: 33k/sec with 3 free minutes per 6 paid.
₦6.60 a minute is what Smart Premier charged someone on the phone all day, and nothing on Airtel Nigeria’s website comes close now. In 2018 the first minute each day cost 40 kobo a second, and after that every call to any network was 11 kobo a second. You joined with *318#. Airtel no longer lists the plan or that code.
Its voice plans page has two prepaid plans, SmartLife and SmartTALK. The cheapest minute Airtel sells is outside them both, in a TalkMore bundle at ₦10.
TalkMore bundles for heavy callers
TalkMore sells minutes for calls to all Nigerian networks, which works out at 16.66 kobo a second. For someone who got the best out of Smart Premier, the ₦1,500 bundle is the natural fit. It is 150 minutes over 30 days, or 5 minutes a day, and the same 150 minutes would cost ₦2,250 on SmartTALK.
| Bundle | Price | Minutes | Valid for |
|---|---|---|---|
| TalkMore 100 | ₦100 | 10 | 1 day |
| TalkMore 200 | ₦200 | 20 | 3 days |
| TalkMore 300 | ₦300 | 30 | 5 days |
| TalkMore 500 | ₦500 | 50 | 7 days |
| TalkMore 1000 | ₦1,000 | 100 | 14 days |
| TalkMore 1500 | ₦1,500 | 150 | 30 days |
Dial *234*1# to buy and *234*8# to check the balance. The bundles are open to all Airtel customers, whichever tariff plan the line is on. Unused minutes roll over if you buy another TalkMore bundle before the current one expires, and otherwise expire with it. The minutes are for calls only, so texts, data and international calls still come out of your airtime.
SmartLife gives minutes back
SmartLife, the nearest plan, works on the same idea as Smart Premier: you pay a higher rate, and you get something back for calling a lot. The rate is 33 kobo a second (₦19.80 a minute) to all networks, with no access fee. For every 6 minutes of paid local calls, Airtel gives 3 minutes back. The code is *414*2#, and *310*1# shows your free minutes.
The terms on Airtel’s SmartLife page are tighter than that sounds. The 6 minutes are counted within a week, Monday to Sunday, and the count resets at midnight on Monday. Only calls paid for from your main airtime count. Free minutes last 48 hours and work for local calls only. They cannot be transferred to another line, and you lose them if you migrate out of SmartLife.
The FAQ lower down the same page says the 6 minutes can be made over 30 days. The terms say a week. Plan around the week, since it is the stricter of the two.
New customers get a one-off ₦1,000 welcome bonus, which Airtel breaks down as 16 minutes of calls and 200MB, and a 100% data bonus on selected plans for the first 90 days. The data bonus Smart Premier gave on every recharge is not on Airtel’s pages.
What a SmartLife minute really costs
Six paid minutes cost ₦118.80. The real price of a minute depends on how many of the 3 free ones you use before they expire.
| Free minutes used, out of 3 | Minutes you get for ₦118.80 | Real cost per minute |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 9 | ₦13.20 |
| 2 | 8 | ₦14.85 |
| 1 | 7 | ₦16.97 |
| 0 | 6 | ₦19.80 |
The plain alternative is SmartTALK (*414*1#), at 25 kobo a second, or ₦15 a minute, with nothing to track. SmartLife only beats it if you use at least two of every three free minutes, and at two the saving is 15 kobo a minute. Use all three and you save ₦1.80 a minute. Make fewer than 6 minutes of calls in a week and nothing comes back, at a rate ₦4.80 a minute higher.
Against Smart Premier it is no contest. SmartLife at its very best is ₦13.20 a minute, exactly double the old ₦6.60. Our page on the Airtel Smart Value plan and SmartTALK covers the flat-rate option, and our guide to the best Airtel tariff plan for calls sets all four of Airtel’s current options side by side.
When *121# still shows Smart Premier
To see which plan your line is on, dial *121#, choose “Manage my account”, then “My tariff plan”. Airtel’s website does not say what became of lines that were on Smart Premier. If yours still shows it, call Airtel on 300 and ask what rate the line is charged before you move, because Airtel’s site gives no code for going back.
To move, dial *414# and pick SmartLife or SmartTALK, or use the direct codes above.
Smart Premier is not Airtel Premier
Airtel still uses the word Premier, for something else. Airtel Premier is a rewards programme for customers who spend a lot. The lowest tier, Platinum, is a spend of ₦15,000 to ₦44,999 kept up for six months. Members get priority on the network and birthday gifts. Apart from some free calls on your birthday, nothing on its page changes what a call costs.
