Airtel Expands Unlimited Broadband Data Plans to More Cities as Jio GigaFiber Registrations Open

Just days after Reliance Jio started taking registrations for the highly anticipated Jio GigaFiber broadband service, Bharti Airtel has started expanding its truly unlimited broadband data offerings in more cities. The latest move, which is certainly aimed at taking on Jio GigaFiber, comes days after Airtel was spotted offering unlimited broadband plans in Hyderabad - without any explicit FUP limits. With the expansion, the same treatment has now been given by the New Delhi-based telco to its broadband subscribers in circles such as Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Delhi-NCR, Indore, Jamnagar, Kolkata, and Mumbai, among others. Airtel is also offerings benefits such as Amazon Prime subscription and data rollover to take on the GigaFiber service that is touted to deliver up to 1Gbps download speeds.

Initially, Airtel was offering unlimited broadband data to its subscribers in Hyderabad. The service provider notably brought unlimited data for all the existing plans in the city, even with the lowest, Rs. 349 plan that offers 8Mbps of Internet speed along with unlimited local and STD calls. However, as the Jio GigaFiber service is about to hit certain circles in India, Airtel has expanded its unlimited broadband data offering and removed the existing FUP limits to other circles as well.

As specified on its official site, Airtel subscribers in Mumbai can now avail unlimited broadband data with the Rs. 699 and Rs. 1,999 plans. Similar is the case for subscribers in Ahmedabad, Infocity Gandhinagar, Jamnagar, and Surat where the operator is offering unlimited broadband data on the Rs. 499, Rs. 599, and Rs. 1,099 plans. For subscribers in Chandigarh, Delhi, Indore, Jaipur, and Kolkata, Airtel has introduced its unlimited broadband offering on the Rs. 1,999 plan. Besides, there is unlimited broadband data on the Rs. 499 and Rs. 1,999 plans in Agra, Ambala, and Karnal.

It is worth pointing out here that while Airtel says that it is offering unlimited broadband data with no speed drop, it does specify the limit. The operator is also importantly offering the unlimited data benefit for personal and non-commercial use, like what debuted in Hyderabad last month. "It is clarified and stated that this benefit is only meant for personal and non-commercial use, and is not intended for any commercial use, or special or enterprise plans. The Fair Usage Policy for the unlimited plans is capped at 3,333GB (3.3TB) post which customers can enjoy unlimited speeds at 1024 Kbps," the company revealed in its terms and conditions.

Having said that, the monthly limit of 3.3TB is quite sufficient for home usage and far better than what Airtel subscribers were getting previously. But essentially, the operator is still putting in place a FUP limit. However, it has started marketing the select plans with unlimited broadband data to start retaining its existing subscribers and attract new subscribers ahead of the public debut of Jio GigaFiber.

Alongside the unlimited broadband data offerings, Airtel is giving benefits such as Amazon Prime subscription and unlimited local and STD voice calls to persuade subscribers. There is also Airtel V-Fiber service that is touted to up to 300Mbps speed. The expansion of the unlimited data offering was first spotted by TelecomTalk.

Will Jio GigaFiber have the same impact that Jio 4G did? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.