In a move to counter Reliance Jio, telecom major Bharti Airtel has slashed 4G and 3G mobile internet charges by up to 80 per cent to as low as Rs 51 per gigabyte (GB) under a special scheme.
To get this benefit, Airtel customers will have to recharge with Rs 1,498 against which they will get 1GB of 4G or 3G mobile internet use valid for 28 days, the company said in a statement.
After exhausting the 1GB data limit, customers will have to pay just Rs 51 for a recharge of 1GB 4G or 3G data over a period of 12 months. There is no limit on the number of recharges during the period.
At present, Airtel offers 1GB of 3G or 4G mobile internet for Rs 259 that is valid for 28 days.
The company is also set to launch a similar scheme for Rs 748. Under this scheme, customers will get 1GB of 4G internet for Rs 99 over a period of six months.
"These prepaid packs are live in Delhi and will get launched across circles by August 31," the statement said.
"With these innovative packs, we are redefining the value proposition on our data packs and allowing our customers to get a lot more within the same budget," Bharti Airtel director-operations (India & South Asia), Ajai Puri, said.
In July, Airtel had started to offer up to 67 per cent more data in existing 4G and 3G schemes. Idea Cellular and Vodafone followed suit. In August, Airtel made voice calls free even while roaming under a new plan for Rs 1,199, which also included 1GB of 3G or 4G data depending on the availability of network.
Players such as Airtel and Idea have upped the ante in mobile data pricing ahead of the commercial launch by Reliance Jio. Reliance Jio had said it had over 1.5 million test users on its network.
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160830/jsp/business/story_105207.jsp#.V8TZJcLr2M8
