Airtel Takes On Reliance Jio: Offers Unlimited Voice Calls At Rs 345

NDTV Profit Desk

08 Dec 2016, 10:55 PM IST

Airtel is facing tough competition from Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio.

Airtel has decided to take on Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Jio by offering unlimited free calls to its customers. The decision has been taken to ensure that Airtel does not lose its customers base to Reliance Jio that claims to have surpassed the 4G customer base of Airtel through its free voice and data services which have been extended till 31 March, 2017 under the Happy New Year Plan. The two new bundled packs launched by Airtel are for its prepaid customers with free voice calling and substantial data benefits.

Here are the details:

1) Rs 145 Pack
This tariff pack offers 300 MB data to customers with 4G ready mobile phones along with free local and STD Airtel-to-Airtel calls. The pack will offer 50 MB data (in addition to free Airtel-to-Airtel calls across India) to customers with basic mobile phones, which are ideally suited for web surfing and accessing light social media applications. The pack has a validity of 28 days.

2) Rs 345 pack

This pack offers 1 GB data to customers with 4G ready mobile phones along with free calls - local and STD - to any network in India. The pack offers 50 MB data in addition to free calls to any network across India to customers with basic mobile phones, suited for web surfing and accessing light social media applications. The pack has a validity of 28 days.

Ajai Puri, director, market operations (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel said, "This is another initiative from us to bring innovative bundle offers to our customers in line with our endeavor to provide the great value backed by a superior network experience."

The offer to reduce tariffs comes three months after the launch of Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Jio that has garnered more than 50 million consumers by offering unlimited data and voice-calls to its consumers till March 31, 2017.

Another telecom Company, Idea, has also launched two tariff plans for its Pre-paid customers priced at Rs 148 and Rs 348 to offer its customers unlimited voice calls along with data benefits.

Government-owned BSNL, too, is likely to come up with a plan on similar lines, offering its customers unlimited voice calls to mobile subscribers at any network across India.