Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, which recently established a content deal with Eros Now today revealed the first plan which ships with free subscription. BSNL has rationalised its prepaid STV 78 which now ships with benefits for eight days from the date of recharge. BSNL stated that the STV 78 now offers free Eros Now subscription as well, meaning users can watch free content on Eros Now application by logging in with their mobile number. As of now, only the STV 78 will come with free Eros Now subscription out of the wide-range of BSNL's prepaid plans. Besides Eros Now subscription, the STV 78 also comes with 3GB data per day (post which speeds will be reduced to 80 Kbps) and unlimited voice calling for the validity period of eight days.
BSNL STV 78 is the First Prepaid Plan to Offer Eros Now Subscription
As noted, BSNL inked a deal with Eros Now earlier this month and said that it will reveal the tariff plans with Eros Now subscription by the end of January. Sticking to its words, the telco has now announced one plan. "BSNL has taken this initiative of offering unlimited free viewing of video content on the Eros Now app. This service will be made available to BSNL subscribers by the end of January 2019," BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said while announcing the deal earlier this month. As per the pact, Eros Now will provide 11,000 movies, music videos, original web shows and exclusive videos to choose from. The STV 78 from BSNL is available in all the circles.
Eros Digital CEO Rishika Lulla Singh said over-the-top industry in India is expected to reach USD 5 billion by 2023 with tier II, III cities and rural areas witnessing a sizeable increase in mobile penetration and data consumption. "We are well poised to cater to this growing community and our alliance with BSNL is a step towards bridging the urban-rural gap and expanding Eros Now's national reach," Singh said.
BSNL Stepping Up the Content Game
If you look back at BSNL a six months ago, the telco was just focussed in providing services to the customers. But that has changed as the telco is partnering with various content providers and content streaming services to lure more subscribers. Late in 2018, BSNL partnered with Amazon to offer free Amazon Prime subscription worth Rs 999 to its postpaid and broadband subscribers.
And today, it announced free Eros Now subscription to its prepaid customers. While the Amazon Prime partnership was made for postpaid and broadband customers, the Eros Now partnership seems to be exclusively for prepaid users.
As of now, it's unknown which prepaid STVs are eligible for the premium Eros Now subscription. Maybe Eros Now will allow BSNL prepaid customers with an eligible plan to log into the app without any subscription. Eligible prepaid plans list is awaited from BSNL.
Private telecom service providers such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea already partnered with Eros Now and currently providing its entire catalogue of Eros Now via their respective applications.
