Bharti Airtel has launched two new prepaid plans of Rs 379 and Rs 279 in every telecom circle. While the Rs 379 prepaid recharge is to compete with the affordable 84-day validity plans from Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio, the Rs 279 recharge is a unique offering from Bharti Airtel. A few days ago, we reported the arrival of Rs 349 prepaid plan from Airtel with Amazon Prime membership on board. Now, the telco has introduced the Rs 279 plan with Rs 4 lakh life insurance cover. Before the tariff revision, Airtel used to offer life insurance cover benefit with two plans- Rs 249 and Rs 599, and the Amazon Prime membership used to ship with Rs 299 recharge. That said, the denominations are now different, but there is only a minor price difference. Notably, both the plans are already available for recharge across all the circles.
Airtel Rs 379 Prepaid Recharge: Benefits and Comparison With Jio, Vodafone Idea
Starting with the Rs 379 prepaid recharge, it is the company's affordable prepaid plan with 84 days validity on board. The plan ships with 6GB of 4G/3G/2G data, 900 SMSes and truly unlimited voice calling without any FUP limit. The validity of this plan is 84 days from the date of recharge. Other benefits of the recharge include free four-week course on Shaw Academy, Wynk Music & Airtel Xstream App Premium subscription, and Rs 100 cashback on FASTag.
As for the comparison, Vodafone Idea has a similarly priced prepaid plan of Rs 379 that also comes with 6GB data, unlimited voice calling, but the SMS benefit is 1000, unlike 900 on Airtel network. In the case of Reliance Jio, the plan costs Rs 329 only and the benefits include the same 6GB of 4G data, unlimited Jio-to-Jio voice calling, 1000 SMSes and non-Jio FUP minutes of 3,000.
Clearly, Jio has a pricing advantage, however, users will have to settle down with 3,000 minutes of off-net minutes for 84 days which is underwhelming.
Airtel Rs 279 Prepaid Recharge: Benefits and Comparison With Rival Telcos
Bharti Airtel also brought another prepaid recharge of Rs 279 which is exactly the same Rs 249 plan which Airtel launched after the recent tariff revision. Airtel is offering 1.5GB data per day, truly unlimited voice calls and 100 SMSes per day for 28 days with the Rs 279 recharge. As you can see, the benefits of this new plan are pretty much similar to the existing Rs 249 plan, but what's new?
Well, Airtel's all-new Rs 279 plan for prepaid users come with Rs 4 Lakh Term Life Insurance from HDFC Life. Besides, the plan also offers access to a free four-week course on Shaw Academy, Wynk Music, Airtel Xstream App Premium subscription and Rs 100 cashback on FASTag.
In comparison, Reliance Jio has a 1.5GB daily data plan at just Rs 199, but it lacks truly unlimited voice calling and Rs 4 lakh life insurance cover benefits. Vodafone Idea also has a 1.5GB daily data plan of Rs 249, but it lacks the Rs 4 lakh cover benefit. So Airtel's plan is clearly a unique offering.
Airtel Slowly Bringing Back Old Benefits With Prepaid Plans
Just a few weeks ago, Bharti Airtel brought a new recharge of Rs 349 offering 2GB daily data, 100 SMSes per day and unlimited calling for 28 days. The Rs 349 recharge is similar to the Rs 299 one; Airtel has added one-month of Amazon Prime membership benefit to the Rs 299 plan and increased the price to Rs 349. The same applies to the newly launched Rs 279 plan. Airtel hiked the price of Rs 249 plan by Rs 30 and added Rs 4 lakh life insurance cover.
Before the tariff hike, Airtel offered two plans with Rs 4 life insurance cover priced at Rs 249 and Rs 599. The telco used to provide Amazon Prime membership with one plan and it's priced at Rs 299. Slowly, Airtel is bringing back the good-old prepaid plans, but the prices are slightly on the higher side.
