Telecom services provider Bharti Airtel today announced two new post-paid plans under its “myPlan Infinity” series, offering unlimited voice calls along with bundled 3G/4G data starting at Rs. 1199. Many expect Jio to launch its services sometime this month, offering free voice services bundled with data, priced at least 25% lower than current offerings of top rivals.
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Vodafone and Idea Cellular did not reply to ET’s mails on whether they will match Airtel’s move. Its Jio unit now has 1.5 million users including the group’s employees and others testing the network.
While the Reliance offers are new and not widely known, it has started creating ripples in the competitive telecom industry.
These plans are in addition to the existing “myPlan Infinity” Airtel offers for its postpaid mobile customers which were launched past year enabling customers to enjoy unbeatable voice and data offers on Airtel 3G/4G.The new plans will also offer a pay-as-go-rate of only 50p/MB post exhaustion of the data limit. Earlier, this was available from Rs 2,000. On the plans, Airtel will allow customers to make local, STD and roaming calls. And, it is applicable only for Vodafone-to-Vodafone connections.
“Each conversation on our network is important and must carry on uninterrupted”.
To avail this talk time benefit, customers need to SMS “BETTER” on 199 and talk time of 10 minutes will be credited immediately (within 30 minutes) to their number, the company said in a statement.
Some, however, feel Bharti in its bid to retain high-end customers may have revealed its cards a trifle too soon, and unwittingly given Jio an opportunity to undercut with more compelling bundled voice and data plans.
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To counter Reliance Jio, the three telecom companies have been expanding 4G operations and introducing various offers. “It has already become hard, and no one is sure of how things pan out as Reliance Jio gets aggressive”, a senior official with a leading telecom company said, requesting anonymity.
