Reacting to falling usage of data on its network, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has increased the data available on its recharges, and introduced a daily data scheme priced at Rs 3099 for 90 days.
The operator had, on Apr 1, doubled the data available on most of its 3G recharges, but had limited the new schemes till May 6.
Under the newly launched ‘Summer Data Bonanza’, the state-owned player has not only extended the data doubling schemes, but improved upon them.
For example, the Rs 78 voucher, which used to give 1 GB valid for five days till March, was tweaked to give 2 GB in April.
Under the new Summer Bonanza scheme, it will now give 2.2 GB, valid for 5 days.
Similarly, the 292 recharge was tweaked to give 8 GB of data in April, which has now been modified again to give 10 GB.
DAILY DATA PLAN
Besides these smaller recharges, the company also unveiled a ‘daily data’ plan that gives 1 GB per day for a period of 90 days for Rs 3099.
This works out to Rs 1000 per month, or Rs 33 per day, for 1 GB of usage.
However, the most interesting aspect of this recharge is that it offers unlimited calls and SMS to any network — a first for the operator.
However, from a data perspective, the new plan is as attractive as BSNL’s own 339 scheme, which provides 3 GB per day for 28 days. The 339 recharge caps free voice calls to 25 minutes per day.
These moves are a reaction to a sharp drop in the usage of 3G services on operator’s network due to the rising prominence of cheap 4G data services.
The operator ‘missed the 4G bus’ by sitting on its spectrum for the last seven years. It is now scrambling to launch its LTE services towards the end of 2017 or early 2018.