To compete with the three major players of the telecom industry, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited or BSNL has recently launched their new postpaid plan for Rs.499.
BSNL Rs.499 Postpaid Plan
According to this plan, the user can enjoy unlimited voice
calls with limitless FUP and 45 GB data. With recent changes affected
by BSNL to its postpaid plans the subscriber also gets the benefit of up to 100 SMS a day which puts BSNL at par with the other service providers.
The latest postpaid plan offered by the government owned
PSU offers 45 GB data, 100 SMS a day, and unlimited voice calls, even
while roaming. The voice calling facility comes with no FUP limit
benefit. The 100 SMS per day advantage is allowed on roaming numbers as
well.
The only disappointment is that the 45 GB data cannot
be rolled over to the next month. That means that unless used
completely the unused data will lapse. Point to note is that unlimited
data accorded with the Rs.499 plan has a FUP speed of 40Kbps.
On the other hand, BSNL had also introduced the Rs.399
postpaid plan as its ‘Holi Dhamaka’ offer. It offered 30 GB of data with
unlimited voice calls and 100 SMS per day. For just an extra Rs.100,
the subscriber can now avail of all these benefits but with an extra 15
GB of data.
BSNL’s Rs.499 Postpaid Plan Vs. Idea Cellular, Vodafone, Airtel Rs.499 Postpaid Plan
While BSNL is offering 45 GB of data with its Rs.499
postpaid plan Airtel and Vodafone are offering 75 GB of data for the
same plan. They are offering their subscribers 30 GB of more data than
BSNL for the same price. In comparison, Idea is offering only 40GB data
for its Rs.499 plan.
In terms of the daily SMS, both Airtel and Idea are
offering the same option as BSNL except Vodafone where the subscriber
gets 100 SMS for the validity of the plan, i.e., a month instead of
everyday.
Disappointingly, BSNL is yet to allow carry forward of data
balance to the next month. Also, Rs.499 does not include GST.
Therefore, the customer will have to pay more than that if they opt for a
Rs.499 Postpaid Plan of BSNL.
The only area that BSNL is currently falling behind the
telecom giants is the data rollover facility. Unlike BSNL all the
telecom service providers have this service in effect for its
subscribers. It also highly unlikely that BSNL will introduce this
service anytime soon, if ever. Other than that, all the networks are
offering similar voice calling options to its users.
The Postpaid Segment
3 months ago, BSNL was leading the postpaid sector ahead of
telecom giant Airtel and other large service providers like Vodafone
India, Idea, etc. But now it is lagging behind, especially Airtel and
Vodafone, and that too by a wide margin.
Both Vodafone and Airtel have similar plans in the market
as BSNL, of Rs.499 but their benefits are better than BSNL’s because of
which the state-owned telecom company is losing out customers to those.
The Rs.499 postpaid plan comes with higher data benefit and a rollover
facility with both Airtel and Vodafone. This is something that BSNL
can’t compete with at present.
Even though BSNL is offering 100 SMS a day for all its
postpaid plans that are over Rs.399, it needs to do more in the data
facility, to win over more customers and to stand tall against the other
telecom giants.
