While Jio continues to maintain its position as the top telecom operator in India in terms of affordability of data consumption, the other incumbents have been coming up with plans and offer to match its prices and bundled data. However, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) now seems to target a different set of subscribers, who like to send SMS messages. The telco has upgraded select plans to provide 100 SMS messages to subscribers per day. It is worth noting that this SMS benefit is currently only available for postpaid subscribers and not prepaid users.
BSNL has refreshed its postpaid plans by offering more SMS benefits to users. The postpaid plans priced more than Rs. 399 will now provide 100 SMS messages per day, Telecom Talk reports. However, for the plans worth less than Rs. 399, BSNL will provide a total of 100 SMS messages for the entire validity period. This move by BSNL is meant to take on rivals such as Jio, Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea, as they offer similar offers in most of their plans. Previously, BSNL did not offer 100 SMS messages per day even on its most premium postpaid packs.
It is worth noting that the change in BSNL postpaid plans are currently available only in Chennai and Tamil Nadu telecom circles. These changes reportedly became active starting August 1 and we can expect the telco to launch similar features pan-India soon.
BSNL has been making several changes to its postpaid plans in the last few months. In June, the telco had revised all of its postpaid plans to offer unlimited data benefits. BSNL had announced that all postpaid plans and data add-on plans would provide unlimited data from July 1.
To recall, BSNL's postpaid plans start from Rs. 99 and go up to Rs. 1,525. While the Rs. 99 plan only offers 500MB of data for one month, the Rs. 1,525 plan offers unlimited data with no FUP restriction. In comparison, Reliance Jio currently only offers one postpaid plan in India priced at Rs. 199, and it is valid for a standard bill cycle. It gives users a total of 25GB 4G data, free unlimited voice calls, 100 SMS messages per day, and complimentary access to Jio's entire suite of apps.
Will Jio Phone 2 help WhatsApp, YouTube reach the next billion users in India? We discussed that 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.
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