BSNL has launched another prepaid plan for new users in Chennai and Tamil Nadu telecom circles. The BSNL First Recharge plan of Rs 108 offers freebies for 28 days, but the validity of the plan is 180 days, post which users will have to migrate to another validity extension plan or unlimited combo plan. New BSNL customers opting for this recharge will receive benefits like unlimited voice calling (capped at 250 minutes per day), 1GB data per day and 500 SMSes for 28 days. BSNL also says the plan will offer free voice calls to MTNL network which operates in Mumbai and Delhi telecom circles. BSNL recently started providing free voice calls to MTNL mobile numbers as both the telcos will soon be merged and the latter will act as a subsidiary of the former.
BSNL FRC 108 Relaunched in Few Telecom Circles
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is providing this First Recharge plan of Rs 108 only in Chennai and Tamil Nadu circles for now. As for the benefits, the plan offers 1GB data per day post which the speeds will be reduced to 80 Kbps. Users will also get to make unlimited voice calls to any network, including MTNL across the country. Lastly, BSNL is also offering 500 SMSes for the entire validity period of 28 days.
While BSNL says the plan comes with unlimited voice calling benefit, it still caps voice calls at 250 minutes per day, after which every voice call will be charged at standard rates.
There are a few things to note about the FRC 108 from BSNL. Firstly, it's available only to new customers in the said circles; Next up, it's also available for users who are looking to migrate to other plans from the existing plan. BSNL also confirmed that Blackout days would not be applicable for this plan.
BSNL Finally Starts Offering Free Voice Calling to MTNL Users
In other news, government-owned BSNL has started providing free voice calls to MTNL mobile numbers located in Mumbai and Delhi telecom circles. For the uninitiated, BSNL and MTNL are the two PSUs operating across the 22 telecom circles. While BSNL has its operations in 20 circles, MTNL is currently providing telecom, broadband and landline services in Mumbai and Delhi circles. Very recently, MTNL even managed to launch 1 Gbps broadband plans in Delhi starting at Rs 2,990.
BSNL started offering unlimited voice calling with a majority of its prepaid plans right after the entry of Reliance Jio to the Indian market. However, the telco did not provide unlimited voice calling to MTNL network, which has now changed because the Cabinet has approved the merger of MTNL and BSNL.
Other prepaid plans of BSNL like Rs 429, Rs 485 and Rs 666 also providing free voice calling to MTNL network starting October 24. The Rs 108 FRC is also part of the same scheme introduced by BSNL very recently.
After the merger with BSNL, MTNL is said to act as a subsidiary to BSNL, but we don't have in-depth details regarding the merger of the two PSUs. In other news, Trai is also looking to consider floor pricing for tariff plans to bring stability in the industry. Reliance Jio focussed on providing affordable prepaid plans to the customers, which led other telcos to introduce cheaper prepaid plans to retain the customer base. Once Trai implements the floor pricing, we may see tariff prices go up right away which will surely bring stability to the industry.
