Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is the only telecom operator in India right now to provide postpaid plans on an annual basis. We have seen telcos offering prepaid plans with 365 days validity, but none of the private operators like Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea are offering postpaid plans for one year. But BSNL's every postpaid plan starting at Rs 99 come with annual payment option. For the unaware, BSNL has a pretty good postpaid plan portfolio and they start at just Rs 99 (Rs 1,115 for one year). The premium postpaid plan offered by BSNL is priced at Rs 1,525 and it ships with truly unlimited data without any speed restriction or FUP limit; The annual price of the Rs 1,525 postpaid plan is Rs 17,164 (excluding taxes). This is really good to BSNL customers who want a long-term option in the postpaid segment. But the payment has to be made in advance for annual connections, so it makes no sense to call them postpaid plans as BSNL has several prepaid plans with one-year validity.
BSNL Annual Postpaid Plans Start at Just Rs 1,115
Government-owned BSNL is offering a total of ten postpaid plans to the users right now. The Rs 99 postpaid plan for one year costs Rs 1,115, and it ships with 500MB of data, 100 SMS and Rs 50 worth of voice calling. Second on the list, we have the Rs 149 postpaid plan which is also a basic one with 500MB data, 100 minutes of free voice calling to any network within India, 100 SMSes, and for one year, the charges would be Rs 1,677. There's also the Rs 225 plan which offers 3GB data, 100 SMSes and 180 minutes of voice calling, and it costs Rs 2,532 for one year.
Moving onto the premium plans, we have the Rs 399 option which offers a user 30GB data along with 40 Kbps after FUP speeds, unlimited voice calling to any network within India, 100 SMSes per day and it can be purchased for one year at Rs 4,389.
BSNL postpaid plans of Rs 525, Rs 725, Rs 1,125 and Rs 1,525 can also be picked up for one year at Rs 5909, Rs 8,160, Rs 12,662 and Rs 17,164, respectively. The Rs 1,525 postpaid plan from BSNL offers unlimited data every month without any speed restriction. All the prices mentioned above are excluding taxes which is a thing worth noting.
Should You Choose BSNL Annual Postpaid Plan or Prepaid Plan?
While it is good to see BSNL providing postpaid plans on an annual basis, the company requires users to make an advance payment for the annual option. This entirely breaks the concept of postpaid plans as the entire plan charges for one year will have to be paid upfront. On the flip side, BSNL is offering pretty good annual prepaid plans of Rs 1,699 and Rs 1,999, and several other circle-specific annual plans are available as well.
The Rs 1,999 BSNL prepaid plan ships with 3GB daily data, unlimited voice calling (250 minutes per day) and 100 SMSes per day for 365 days. And the charges of Rs 1,999 is actually for one year. The only advantage in choosing BSNL postpaid plans is the unlimited voice calling facility because a majority of the BSNL prepaid plans are capping the voice calls at 250 minutes per day.
Unlike the postpaid plans from private telcos, BSNL plans do not ship with any OTT service subscriptions which is a letdown.
