Jio, Airtel in Its Sights, Vodafone Launches Rs. 597 Recharge With 168-Day Validity

Vodafone has been rethinking its prepaid offerings recently to combat the tough competition faced from Reliance Jio, and Bharti Airtel. After introducing the new Rs. 159 recharge, the company has now launched a new Rs. 597 recharge with a validity of 168 days. This plan looks to compete with Airtel's Rs. 597 recharge, so much so, that it even offers the same benefits. However, there are some tweaks that differentiate the Rs. 597 Vodafone recharge from Airtel's, including its separate validity for feature phone and smartphone users. Jio, on the other hand, does not have a recharge with the same validity or data benefits in the market yet.

The new Rs. 597 Vodafone recharge offers 10GB of 4G data, 100 SMS messages per day, and unlimited local, STD, and roaming calls within India. The validity for smartphone users is 112 days, while it offers 168 days of validity only for feature phone users. Furthermore, the telecom operator has an FUP on unlimited calling at 250 minutes per day, 1,000 minutes per week, and calling is limited to only 100 unique numbers during the validity period. This plan is valid in all 4G circles across India, and is live on the app and website as well.

Airtel, on the other hand, is offering 10GB data, 100 SMS messages per day, and unlimited calling without any FUP for 168 days, for smartphone users. The price of this Airtel recharge is also Rs. 597, and it is not known whether more validity is offered to feature phone users or not. This plan is only available in select regions. Both Airtel and Vodafone's plans look to compete with Jio's Rs. 999 recharge that offers unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS messages per day benefits as well. However, the Jio plan comes with 90 days validity, but offers a total of 60GB 4G data. Also, the Jio plan is available in the open market.

If you're looking for a lower priced prepaid plan, then the recently launched Rs. 159 plan comes with 28 days of validity. It offers 28GB of data, unlimited voice calling (same FUP as above), and 100 SMS messages per day for a validity of a month. The 28GB data benefit for 28 days amounts to 1GB per day. Also, Vodafone is offering different SMS benefits in different circles - in some it offers 100 SMS messages per day, in some it offers 100 SMS messages for the plan, and some it doesn't provide any SMS benefits at all.