Telcos up the ante with benefits in 365-day prepaid plans

The battle among the telecom firms Jio, Airtel and Vodafone to capture customers on their 365-day prepaid plans has heated up after their recent tariff hikes.

On Monday, Jio launched '2020 Happy New Year Offer' where smartphone users can pay Rs 2020 and get one year of unlimited services. Feature phone users, on the other hand, can get a JioPhone free bundled with 12 months of unlimited services upon paying Rs 2,020.

For a recharge of Rs 2020, Jio's smartphone subscribers will get 1.5 GB data per day, unlimited Jio-to-Jio voice calls, and SMS valid for a year, the company said in a statement.

Feature phone users will get 500 MB data per day, unlimited Jio-to-Jio voice calls and SMS. Jio said that the fair usage policy will apply to both offers for off-net calls or calls made to telcos like Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL.

Airtel's 365-day plan also has two plans - Rs 1,498 and Rs 2,398. In the Rs 1,498, plan, 3,600 SMS and 24 GB data are available. It offers unlimited calling from Airtel to any network.

In the company's second plan of Rs 2,398, 1.5 GB data and 100 SMS are available everyday. Unlimited calling is also available in this plan. With both Airtel plans, apps like Airtel Xs tream, Zee5 and Wynk Music get free subscription.

Vodafone's 365-day plan, like Airtel and Jio, also has two components of Rs 1,499 and Rs 2,399. Vodafone's plans are almost the same as Airtel in terms of benefits as well as price. The Vodafone Rs 1,499 plan offers 3,600 SMS and 24 GB data. This facilitates unlimited calling on any network.

In the Vodafone Rs 2,399 plan, 1.5 GB data and 100 SMS are available everyday. Unlimited calling is also available. Vodafone Play and ZEE5 subscriptions are available free in both these Vodafone plans.

State-run BSNL's Rs 1,699 recharge plan for 365 days offers unlimited call, 4G Data and free caller tune.

Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone have recently hiked the tariffs charges. Many customers choose a one-year plan to avoid hikes and recurrent changes in tariffs.

The three leading telcos have different plans with a validity of one year only.

Reliance Jio has two plans with 365-day validity. The first plan costs Rs 1,299 with 24 GB data and the second plan costs Rs 2,199. The Rs 1,299 plan does not have a daily data limit. Besides, unlimited calls from Jio to Jio and calls from Jio to other networks get 12,000 fair usage policy (FUP) minutes. Moreover, 3,600 SMS are allowed.

( With inputs from IANS )