Taking on Jio's rampage in the Indian telecom market, state-owned telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has introduced a new long-term prepaid pack that is sure to excite its subscribers. Priced at Rs. 1,999, this pack offers 2GB of data per day, unlimited voice calls (excluding Delhi and Mumbai circles), and 100 SMS messages per day, with a validity of 365 days or 12 months. This puts effective total data benefits at a whopping 730GB. The pack, however, does not offer any of the other BSNL additions such as PRBT (Personalised Ring Back Tone). Additionally, BSNL currently offers 4G services only in the Kerala circle in India.
The BSNL long-term prepaid pack is currently valid only in the Chennai and Tamil Nadu circles, reports Telecom Talk. The pack is promotional in nature and can only be availed between June 25, 2018 and September 22, 2018. Ever since Jio jumped into the scene, it has offered extreme value for money in terms of data and voice services. However, almost two years down the line, other operators have caught up and are offering benefits that beat even the ones enjoyed by subscribers of the Reliance Industries-owned behemoth.
Case in point, the Rs. 1,999 pack. In contrast, Jio's Rs. 1,999 pack offers a validity of just 180 days and total high-speed data benefits of 125GB. However, do note that that Jio's 4G VoLTE services are available pan India.
Earlier this month, BSNL added fire to the data war against Jio by upgrading data benefits for several of its low-cost prepaid packs. The packs that got an upgrade range from Rs. 14 to Rs. 241. The packs now offer as much as 2GB of data per day, compared to 1GB and 1.5GB previously. These also offer free PRBT benefits to subscribers.
Catch the latest from the Consumer Electronics Show on Gadgets 360, at our CES 2026 hub.