Airtel Takes on Jio With New Rs. 499 Postpaid Plan That Offers Unlimited Voice Calls and 40GB Data

To offer some kind of respite to its postpaid customers in the era of ultra-affordable prepaid recharge packs, Airtel has announced a new postpaid plan that offers unlimited local, STD, and incoming/ outgoing roaming calls, 40GB of 3G/ 4G data (with rollover facility), and 1-year Amazon Prime subscription, with a validity of one billing cycle which is usually 30 days. The price of the plan is Rs. 499. It takes on Jio's Rs. 509 postpaid plan that instead offers a total of 60GB data with a 2GB daily limit.

With numerous additions and revisions to the operator's prepaid packs in the past couple of years, this is one of the rare instances when Airtel has introduced a new unlimited postpaid plan. Apart from the above mentioned benefits, the Rs. 499 unlimited plan also offers Wynk TV subscription, access to its library of Live TV and Movies, and Handset Damage Protection.

Comparatively, Reliance Jio's Rs. 509 postpaid plan offers around 50 percent more data benefits albeit with a 2GB daily limit. Jio's plan also requires a Rs. 600 security deposit, but comes with unlimited SMS messages and unlimited access to Jio's suite of apps. A more expensive, Rs. 799 postpaid plan from Airtel offers benefits similar to this Jio plan, and does not come with any daily limit.

Earlier this month, Airtel had released its long-term Rs. 995 prepaid pack that offers unlimited voice calls, 100 SMS messages per day, and 1GB 3G/ 4G data per month (total 6GB), with a validity of 180 days or around six months. The pack is applicable in most major telecom circles in India.

Is the Reliance Jio effect spreading to postpaid connections in India? 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.