State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd will launch Gigafiber plans with speeds of over 1,000 Mbps to counter the threat from players like Reliance Jio, the head of the organisation said today.
“We have a similar strategy and soon we are going to come up with Gigabit OFC connection to customers in select locations,” BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said today in an interaction with customers.
He was responding to concerns about the company’s ability to withstand competition from players like Reliance Jio, which already rolling out Fiber-to-the-Home or FTTH connections with speeds of over one Gigabits. 1 Gigabit is equal to 1,000 Mbps.
Most Indians are on 2 Mbps connections. The maximum speed offered by BSNL’s fiber plans is currently at 100 Mbps.
Shrivastava also said the company is working on reducing the tariffs of its fiber to home plans. “We are working on it,” he said, when asked about the high tariffs.
At present, the cheapest fiber-oriented plan costs Rs 3,999 per month plus tax, which comes to about Rs 4,600 per month, while most broadband subscribers pay only around Rs 900 per month. The Rs 3,999 plan offers a speed of 10 Mbps.
However, BSNL does offer cheaper 1-4 Mbps plans under its FTTH service as well under a scheme of opting for DSL plans via FTTH.
Under this scheme, any traditional broadband plan can be availed by a fiber customer, but the speeds are also comparatively low.
The cheapest broadband plan costs about Rs 460 per month to new customers and gives unlimited 1 Mbps connectivity.
Reliance Jio is yet to announce its Gigafiber plans, but it is expected that the company will give something similar to what Bharat Sanchar Nigam offers at Rs 3,999 at one fourth of the price.