Airtel launches Rs 995 pack with 6-month validity to compete against Reliance Jio

Airtel launches Rs 995 pack with 6-month validity to compete against Reliance Jio

Techenonik  | Thursday, March 1, 2018 | 16:16 IST

While Airtel usually has a daily and weekly fair usage policy (FUP) limit on calling minutes, no such restriction comes with the new Rs 995 pack.

• 
• 
• inShare
• 
• 
• 

The next move in the telecom tariff war has come from Airtel in the form of a long-term prepaid plan with unlimited calling and bundled data benefits to compete against Reliance Jio. Airtel has launched the Rs 995 prepaid pack with unlimited voice calls, 1GB 3G/4G data every month and 100 text messages per day.  It is a half-yearly plan with a validity of 180 days. The Rs 995 plan is available for purchase on the Airtel website and myAirtel mobile app in certain circles.

While Airtel usually has a daily and weekly fair usage policy (FUP) limit on calling minutes, no such restriction comes with the new Rs 995 pack. The data benefits are not what the subscribers are used to with only 1GB of 3G/4G data for a month, taking the total data benefit under the plan to 6GB. Users will be charged 4p per 10KB for using data after exhausting the FUP limit.

Similarly with text messages, users will have to pay Re 1 per SMS on local networks and Rs 1.5 per SMS on national networks once the limit of 100 SMS daily is crossed. With no restrictions on calling during the validity period, the Rs 995 plan is suitable for users with heavy calling requirements.

The plan can be compared to Reliance Jio's Rs 999 plan which offers truly unlimited voice calls, 100 SMS per day, 60GB 4G data for the validity period of 90 days, along with access to the Jio apps. Similar benefits are on offer with Rs 999 plan by Airtel. The only half-yearly plan by Jio costs Rs 1,999 which offers 180 days validity with 125GB total data, unlimited voice calling, 100 SMS per day, and access to complimentary subscription.

Airtel recently revamped its Rs 199, Rs 448, and Rs 509 plans to offer more data benefits. The telecom operator also changed some plans to offer more validity to its users.