Vodafone-owned You Broadband has started providing fixed-line voice calling service to the customers in select cities. You Broadband has made this move to counter Reliance JioFiber whose broadband plans start at Rs 699 and they also come with landline voice calling service. You Broadband has its presence across 18 cities in the country, but the Internet Service Provider (ISP) has launched fixed-line voice services in only eight cities at the moment. The cities in question are Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Powai, Pune, Surat, Thane and Vadodara. Also, the company has launched separate plans for fixed-line voice and broadband services in the said cities. That said, we don't have the details of the combo plans launched by You Broadband for now, but we're expecting the company to reveal them in the next few days.
You Broadband Fixed-Line Voice Calling Services Launched Officially
According to You Broadband, fixed-line voice service will be provided by Vodafone, whereas the broadband service will be provided by You itself. Also, the voice combo plans will be available only in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Powai, Pune, Surat, Thane and Vadodara cities. In several cities, You Broadband is providing various types of plans including Dual Speed (FUP) plans, Unlimited Plans and Data Plans to the customers. The company is expected to offer voice combo plans in two versions- Voice Combo Dual Speed Voice (FUP) plans and Voice Combo Unlimited Plans.
It will be interesting to see how the Vodafone-owned broadband operator prices these voice combo plans in the industry. If you look at the combo offerings, there's no one in the industry right now who can even beat the not-so-impressive JioFiber plans. Also, JioFiber plans do ship with a free 4K Set-Top Box for free. Airtel is also bundling fixed-line voice calling services with its broadband plans, but the telco is not providing any Set-Top Box to the customers
JioFiber Effect Already Showing in the Industry
At the start of September, Reliance Jio announced the JioFiber broadband plans starting at Rs 699. The broadband plans from Jio did not inspire many as the company is having a FUP limit, but on the brighter side, the company is providing landline calling and free Set-Top Box to the customers. Besides JioFiber, Bharti Airtel and BSNL are the two broadband operators in the country who are currently offering bundled voice and data plans to the customers.
That said, other ISPs are already stepping up the game. You Broadband is now joining the list by providing fixed-line voice calling service. On the other hand, BSNL is said to partnering with local Cable TV operators to provide Triple Play services to the customers. It will be interesting to see how other ISPs line ACT Fibernet, Excitel react to this threat from JioFiber.
