BSNL Rs.699 Broadband Plan Revised: Now Offers 20Mbps Speed With 700GB Monthly FUP

Reliance Jio has launched its long-awaited broadband service, the Jio Gigafibre on the 15^th of August, with the company now taking registrations from customers. The last time they entered an industry was the telecom industry and took it by storm with most of the major telecom operators still reeling from the loss in customers suffers from its entry. However, this time around it looks like BSNL is taking pre-emptive measures as it has slashed its Rs. 669 broadband plan, in a bid to retain its customers from switching over to Reliance Jio.

Rs. 699 plan revision:

The Rs. 699 broadband plan from BSNL is currently available only in one location – Chennai. With the revision to the plan, the state-owned telecom major has upgraded both the download speeds as well as the FUP limit. Currently the Rs. 699 plan offers broadband with speeds of up to 10 Mbps and a FUP of 100 GB of data.
Now after the revision, the revised speed is doubled to 20 Mbps and the FUP (fair usage policy) limit has been increased to a whopping 700 GB of data. While the 20 Mbps is significantly lower compared to the 100 Mbps that Reliance Jio Gigafibre is offering, this speed is more than sufficient to run fast downloads and watch YouTube videos at 720 pixels quality without any lag or buffering.

Another key significant change in this plan is the increase in FUP limit to 700 GB of data per month. This is a large data limit that the public sector company has set as their rivals such as Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel offer limits only up to 100 GB on most of their plans.
However, this revision by BSNL may be prompted by ACT Broadband’s decision to increase its FUP for its premium plan in Chennai to 700 GB, with effect from 1^st August 2018. Coming back to BSNL, once the users exhaust the 700 GB FUP limit that it has set, the speed will be downgraded to an impressive 2 Mbps, which is again significantly higher than most ordinary internet connections.
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Other Benefits on offer:

As ever with all other plans of BSNL broadband, the Rs. 699 plan also comes bundled with a fixed telephone line (landline service). While landlines may not seem relevant to many users in current day scenario, the benefits offered by BSNL to users of the Rs 699 plan will certainly be worthwhile. Unlimited voice calls are permitted from the landline device to any device in India along with this plan. While the plan may be a blessing for users in Chennai, users of BSNL from other regions/circles may feel deprived. However, they can avail the Rs 695 plan or the Rs. 799 plan that is available in most other circles, as these plans are similar in benefit to the Rs. 699 plan.

Competition in the broadband service industry:

BSNL isn’t the first internet service provider to modify its plans in anticipation for the Reliance Jio storm that is all set to shake up the industry. Ever since Reliance Jio’s news of launch several internet service providers have taken the initiative in increasing the monthly FUP limits and download limits on their existing plans. Apart from these broadband operators such as Bharti Airtel, ACT Fibernet and YOU Broadband have gone one step further and have offered a discount of 20% on annual rental plans in a bid to lock customers from switching to Reliance Jio Gigafiber’s services.

Customer retention will certainly be a key worry for most ISPs as Reliance Jio is offering 100 Mbps connections with 100 GB of monthly FUP, in addition to three month’s free service as an introductory offer.