Airtel Launches 'Foreign Pass' International Roaming Voice Packs Starting at Rs. 196 to Rival Jio

Bharti Airtel on Wednesday launched affordable international roaming voice packs for its prepaid customers in India. Called 'Foreign Pass', the international roaming voice packs are starting at as low as Rs. 196 and are valid for 20 countries around the globe. The new packs come in line with the postpaid international roaming plans that the New Delhi-based telco offers to its postpaid subscribers with validity options of one day, 10 days, and 30 days along with benefits such as free incoming calls and SMS messages and calling minutes for outgoing calls and SMS messages to both India and the local country. To take on the competition, Reliance Jio also has its international roaming packs that are touted to offer a "worry-free" experience with "unlimited" incoming and outgoing voice calls, data, and SMS messages. The Jio international roaming packs notably start at Rs. 575 with one-day validity and go up to 30 days of validity at Rs. 5,751.

Prepaid subscribers on Airtel network can opt for the Foreign Pass starting at Rs. 196 for 20 minutes of voice calling, followed by Rs. 296 for 40 minutes and Rs. 446 for 75 minutes. The Rs. 196 international roaming voice calling pack is valid for seven days, while the Rs. 296 pack is valid for 30 days and the Rs. 446 pack comes with a validity of 90 days. The packs importantly don't include any SMS messages and data bundles.

The fresh international roaming voice calling packs are available to Airtel prepaid subscribers in 20 countries, including UAE, Nepal, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, USA, Qatar, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, China, Canada, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, France, Netherlands, and Thailand. Subscribers visiting any of these countries can avail the roaming benefits by recharging and activating the pack through My Airtel app or the Airtel website.

"We are delighted to announce the launch of Airtel Foreign Pass - convenient prepaid International Roaming Recharges to keep our customers connected and tension free, even when traveling abroad," said Vani Venkatesh, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Airtel, in a press release while announcing the new packs. "Happy to share that Airtel is the first telco in the country to have designed these value offers for prepaid customers. We will continue to focus on innovations to add to customer convenience and delight."