In a bid to compete with Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone, state-run BSNL has launched a new Rs 171 prepaid plan for its subscribers. The plan, however, is only available in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana circles at the present moment. The plan reportedly offers 2GB of data per day along with unlimited local/STD and roaming calls and 100SMS messages per day. It has a validity of 30 days. This plan takes on the Rs 198 plan of Reliance Jio which currently offers the same benefits albeit a lower validity period.
As per a TelecomTalk report, the roaming call facility is extended to Mumbai and Delhi circles as well under this plan. It may be recalled that other plans of BSNL do not offer free roaming calls in these two circles as it does not have any operations here. The unlimited local and STD calling facility of this recharge plan is also said to come without any FUP limits, unlike other plans.
To compare this plan with the other operators, Reliance Jio has a plan of Rs 198 as mentioned earlier which offers the same benefits. However, it has a slightly lesser validity period of 28 days compared to 30 days for BSNL. Airtel also has a Rs 199 prepaid plan that offers 1.4GB of 3G/4G data per day along with unlimited local/STD and roaming calls and 100SMS messages per day with a validity of 28 days. Vodafone also has a Rs 199 prepaid plan that was revised a few days ago to offer 2.8GB of 3G/4G data per day along with unlimited calling benefits but without free SMS. This plan has a validity of 28 days.
BSNL also recently launched a new special tariff voucher (STV) of Rs 19 which offers on-net calls at 15 paise per minute and off-net calls at 35 paise per minute with a validity period of 54 days. However, this recharge offer is only available in the Chennai and Tamil Nadu circles.