When Reliance launched Jio SIM in India in 2016 with affordable plans, people started praising the company, and soon, it gained a huge number of customers. With Jio slowly taking over the market, other telecom service providers such as Airtel, Idea, and Vodafone joined the race and introduced somewhat similar plans, and that’s where people fell into the data trap.
After a couple of years, Jio and Airtel remained in the race, while Idea and Vodafone merged as one entity, ‘Vodafone Idea,’ to survive in the market. Recently, Jio announced tariff hikes as the company looks to monetise 5G services and improve the financial health of the sector. Following the Jio, within hours of each other, Airtel and Vodafone Idea (VI) announced the same.
And with that decision, these three telecom giants started losing popularity among customers in India. Customers are tired of dealing with the increased prices of recharges in the last couple of years. Now, out of expectation, the government-owned telecom company BSNL has introduced a new list of plans with the thought that people might be looking for cheaper alternatives.
BSNL to the Rescue
So, if you are looking for alternative options, you can opt for BSNL’s recharge plan with a validity of 35 days that offers 3 GB of data on a 4G network for ₹107. Along with this plan, the company is offering a couple of other affordable plans – 28 days plan with unlimited calling and 1 GB of data at ₹108, 70 days plan with unlimited calling and 2 GB of data at ₹197.
Then, a plan with a validity of 150 days at ₹397 that offers unlimited calling for the initial 30 days, along with 2 GB of data on the 4G network and lastly, a plan with a validity of 300 days for ₹797, that offers unlimited calls for the initial 60 days and provides 2 GB of data daily. But do you know why Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea hiked the prices?
The Reason Behind 12-27% Hike
After adding a hike of 12-27% on every recharge, these companies are trying to consolidate their customers by saying that the charges were necessary to maintain a healthy average revenue per user (ARPU). The new hiked prices came into effect on 3rd July for Jio and Airtel, while Vodafone Idea updated its prices on 4th July.
Now, when people started outraging “JioBoycott” on Twitter, to control the damage, Reliance Jio brought 3 new prepaid plans with unlimited 5G data. However, these plans are incompatible with ₹479 and ₹1,899 prepaid plans. These plans are aimed at people who subscribed to prepaid plans that offer 1 GB or 1.5 GB of mobile data every day and have the same validity.
The plans are as follows.
- ₹151 Plan:
4G Data: 9GB at high speed
5G Data: Unlimited at high speed (for 5G-supported devices on Jio True 5G network)
- ₹101 Plan:
4G Data: 6GB at high speed
5G Data: Unlimited at high speed (for 5G-supported devices on Jio True 5G network)
- ₹51 Plan:
4G Data: 3GB at high speed
5G Data: Unlimited at high speed (for 5G-supported devices on Jio True 5G network)