Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has unveiled a new unlimited call plan, matching bigger rivals such as Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel.
While Airtel and Idea offer unlimited calls to any network in India plus 1 GB of 4G data for Rs 345, BSNL is doing so with a new recharge of Rs 339. In addition, BSNL’s offer is valid for all customers whether they use 2G, 3G or 4G handsets.
In contrast, the other two have limited the 1 GB data to those with 4G handsets.
BSNL has not yet launched its 4G services in most places.
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Despite this, Tata DoCoMo continues to remain the cheapest option for such unlimited plans.
The company gives 5 GB of 2G or 3G data plus unlimited calls for Rs 348, which is five times more data for the same price.
Reliance Communications’ also announced a similar offer of unlimited calling for Rs 149.
However, when subscribers tried to avail of the offer, they were informed that the scheme is valid only for new customers. The original statement from RCom did not specify that the offer was only for new joiners.
BSNL’s offer, however, is available for both existing and new customers and there are no hidden conditions.
The state-owned company is expected to launch 4G in about half of its circles in 2017.
In addition to the Rs 339 recharge, it also unveiled another pack priced in the Rs 100-150 range (depending on the circle) that gives free calling to other BSNL numbers across India.
In addition, the company also recently unveiled another offer under which anyone can recharge with Rs 786 and get Rs 900 talktime and 300 MB of free data.
It is also giving free 300 MB of data to all new customers.
On the downside, the 3G speeds on the company’s network tends to be volatile and largely dependent on location. In many big cities, the network tends to be congested, though in recent days things have improved due to the free data offered by Reliance Jio.