Article credit- Financial Express
India’s biggest telecom operator, Airtel has announced several new recharge packs for its prepaid customers ranging from Rs 8 to Rs 399. Telecom operators, including Airtel, have been introducing plans aggressively to counter Reliance Jio which has amassed over 12 crore customers in a short period of time. Jio brought a revolution in the Indian telecom market through its freebies which include ultra-low cost data and free voice calls.
Interestingly, the launch of Jio Phone, a 4G feature phone, could lead to a further price war and may prompt other operators to come up with low-cost handsets. Airtel’s profit and margins took a hit in recent quarters after Jio started its service in last September. In the FYQ1 2017, Airtel reported 75 percent decline in its net profit at Rs 367 crore compared to Rs 1,462 crore in the year-ago quarter, reported NDTV.
The report added analysts saying that this competitive environment is likely to persist in the telecom industry in the future as the new entrant Jio is likely to maintain aggressive pricing to gain market share.
Here are the new plans launched by Airtel:
Rs 8 plan: Local+STD mobile calls 30 paise/minute for 56 days.
Rs 40 plan: Rs. 35 talk time with unlimited validity.
Rs 60 plan: Rs. 58 talk time with unlimited validity.
Rs 5 plan: 4GB 3G/4G data for 7 days. Offer valid only after 4G SIM upgradation and for one-time recharge only.
Rs 349 plan offer: 10% cashback on recharge of Rs 349 by opening Airtel Payments Bank account.
Rs 199 plan: Unlimited local mobile calls plus 1GB 2G/3G/4G data for 28 days.
Rs 399 plan: The plan offers 1 GB data per day at 4G speed along with unlimited local and STD calls. The plan is to counter the Jio’s Rs 399 plan which also offers unlimited local and STD calls along with 1 GB data per day for 84 days. Notably, before recharge customers need to check with the customer care, whether the plan is available or not.
Rs 349 plan: Airtel is offering unlimited local and STD calls plus 28 GB data (1GB/day) for 28 days under this plan.
Rs 149 plan: This plan of Airtel offers unlimited Airtel to Airtel calls plus 2GB data at 4G speed with 28 days validity.