BSNL’s answer to Reliance Jio broadband: 300GB data & free night calls under Rs 249 plan

State-owned BSNL is the newest telecom company to offer data and free calling and it is under the Rs 249 plan. Giving competition to Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio, BSNL announce an attractive scheme which provides 300 GB of data per month. This amount of data, at this price, is by far the maximum offered by any major telecom company in India. The offer will be available at a cost of Rs 249. The new offer also provides users with partial free calling feature at night. Notably, the new tariff is valid only for BSNL’s new customers. According to media reports, the plan will be valid for the next six months, even though on BSNL’s website, it still shows the offer was available until March only. However, after six months, the Rs 249 offer will change to a Rs 499 plan.

The BSNL offer, unlike Jio, does not come with free calling for all day. The BSNL free voice calling will only be available after 9 PM at night till 7 AM in the morning. However, the users will be able to make calls without this foundation on Sundays. Since the plan is valid only for new customers, even existing users will have to get a new connection in order to avail the deal. While Reliance Jio appears to be planning to launch its Home Broadband services soon, it remains to be seen how the state-owned company will compete in terms of speed. The speed offered by BSNL will be limited to 2 MBPS. The network provider has not notified about the drop in speeds once daily limit is reached. At an offer of 10GB of data per day, BSNL has become the cheapest data plans any major telecom company has to offer at the moment.

According to a BSNL customer care executive, the Rs. 249 Broadband plan will not take any additional charges from its subscribers. However, there will be a security deposit of Rs. 249 as the minimum hire period is for a month. This is the second major time BSNL has taken on Reliance Jio when it comes to offering internet plans in the time when the latter has completely disrupted the telecom market with its aggressive tariff plans.

Reliance Jio has recently announced the suspension of its Summer Surprise offer after a TRAI order. BSNL’s new offer at this time is perfect because the free data services by Jio would soon end.