State-owned telecom operator MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited) recently announced the launch of its new GSM offer for the company's broadband customers as part of which subscribers availing Internet plans with a monthly tariff above Rs. 600 are entitled to free MTNL 3G-enabled SIM cards with access to up to 10GB of free data per month for a total period of 12 months. Apart from the data benefits, SIM cards in this offer will carry a validity of up to 5 years with calls and SMS messages chargeable as per industry standards. The offer is valid from July 1 up until September 28, a period of 90 days, and can be availed by new and existing MTNL broadband customers. The broadband sector in India is due for a shake-up soon, with Reliance Jio's announcement of the Jio GigaFiber broadband service.
While MTNL currently has operations in Delhi and Mumbai, the Broadband-GSM scheme currently seems to be valid only in the Mumbai circle. As part of the offer, 5GB of 3G data will be provided per month to subscribers of broadband plans priced between Rs. 600 and Rs. 799 and the 10GB free data will be given to subscribers with plans priced above Rs. 800 a month. This takes total data benefits to 60GB and 120GB, respectively.
In this offer, a prepaid SIM card under MTNL's Trump range will be included. The My Group facilities will have a monthly service charge of Rs. 20 and will offer call charges at 1 paisa per 12 seconds, an amount of 10 paise will be charged per SMS, Re. 1 will be charged per number change, and the My Group scheme will support up to 9 other Trump/ Dolphin numbers. Calls outside the group will be charged at 1 paisa per second for mobile phones and 1 paisa per 2 seconds for landline phones. Mobile Internet charges after the benefit gets over will be set at 3 paise per 10Kb for both local and national roaming.
Back in May this year, MTNL had refreshed its unlimited prepaid recharge packs to take on Jio and Airtel with comparable data, voice, and cost benefits. As we mentioned, Reliance Jio recently announced that its broadband service, Jio Gigafiber, will roll out later this year, with registrations open from August 15. The company says it will offer plans with speeds up to 1Gbps, but has not detailed any pricing yet.
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