BSNL to offer free unlimited mobile calls plan at Rs 149

BSNL users will soon be able to make unlimited local and national voice calls to any network for Rs 149 a month.

The new monthly tariff plan, expected to be introduced on January 1, will help the state-run telecom service provider compete with Reliance Industries’ telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm, whose entry is seen causing disruption in the country’s telecom sector.

“We are working on a plan to allow unlimited voice calls to mobile subscribers at any network across India at Rs 149 a month,” BSNL chairman Anupam Shrivastava told ET, adding that the plan would also include 300 MB of data

 

“Jio has come up with disruptive strategy and we are ready to match whatever tariff is being offered by our competitors,” Shrivastava said.

BSNL is also building up capacity to accommodate voice traffic by making use of its underutilised fibre-based broadband network, which consists of nearly 7-lakh route kilometres of fibre across the country. Its existing broadband network serves merely 12 million customers.

By offering unlimited voice calls at Rs 149 a month over its existing broadband network, the telco, according to Shrivastava, will also aim to reduce interconnection usage charge (IUC) impact. BSNL’s average revenue per user (ARPU) is Rs 88 per month.

Shrivastava said BSNL’s strategy is aimed at not only retaining existing customers but also enhancing subscriber base in the wake of Jio’s tactical pricing, and competitive tariffs by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.

BSNL STV 498 plan which offers unlimited 3G data. The plan, which is available to all BSNL prepaid users across India, has 14 days validity. Interestingly, BSNL has not put a data cap limit on the plan and as such would truly offer unlimited high-speed 3G data to the users. new data pack will be available to both new as well as existing BSNL prepaid mobile customers with immediate effect in all telecom circles up to 07-01-2017.