BSNL to Impose 250 Minute Daily Calling Cap on Select Prepaid Recharge Plans: Report

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is imposing a daily calling cap on select prepaid recharge plans, according to a report. The state-owned telco will put a free voice call ceiling of 250 minutes per day as a result of the new change, post which it will charge customers at the base tariff plan of Re. 1 paisa per second. The latest move comes a long time after BSNL continued to offer truly unlimited voice calling benefits through a range of prepaid plans across its operational circles in India.

The change is initially taking place for Rs. 186, Rs. 429, Rs. 666, and Rs. 1,699 prepaid recharge plans, reports Telecom Talk. All the four reported plans are currently offering truly unlimited voice calling to BSNL customers.

BSNL will provide 250 minutes of voice calling on a daily basis instead of offering unlimited voice calls. After exceeding the given quota, customers are said to be charged at the base tariff plan of Re. 1 paisa per second.

Initially, Reliance Jio started offering truly unlimited voice calls through its prepaid plans. Jio's move was followed by operators such as Airtel and Vodafone and later mimicked by BSNL to retain their existing subscribers.

It is unclear whether BSNL is implementing the daily cap in all the circles it operates or initially imposing the change in select circles only. Further, the operator is yet to highlight the change on its website.

Last week, BSNL revised its Rs. 151 prepaid recharge plan to offer 1.5GB daily data benefits instead of 1GB data per day. The plan also includes 100 SMS messages per day as well as unlimited voice calling benefits.