In recent times, telecom operators such as Aircel and Vodafone partnered with feature phone makers such as Lava and itel to offer bundled tariff plans to the customers. And now, it's the turn of state-run telco BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited).
The government-owned PSU has confirmed its partnership with device makers Lava and Micromax. Under this collaboration, BSNL will offer bundled tariff plans with low-cost Lava and Micromax handsets.
"BSNL has tied up with Micromax and Lava to provide instruments to BSNL customers at low cost. We are coming out with bundled offers on the handsets manufactured by Micromax and Lava with BSNL SIMs...the cost details are being worked out," BSNL's Hyderabad Telecom District (HTD) Principal General Manager K Ramchand told reporters in Hyderabad.
This partnership will help the operator to increase its subscriber base. BSNL, however, did not announce any tariff plans after the collaboration.
Ramchand also revealed that six rural exchanges are commissioned with Wi-Fi in Hyderabad Telecom District and another 112 rural exchanges will be covered by December end this year.
Furthermore, the official spoke about linking of Aadhaar with mobile numbers saying "a total of 68,000 have already been linked in HYD."
BSNL recently launched a tariff plan of Rs. 429 on a pan-India basis, which is in-line with other telecom operators plans such as Rs. 399 from Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. This Rs. 429 plan gives 1GB data per day and unlimited voice calls without any cap to all the customers.
The official said that BSNL registered over 3.5 lakh connections under Andhra Pradesh and Telangana circles for the Rs. 429 plan.
