Andrew Bonwick
Vice President of Product Development at Relm Insurance
Madhav Sheth
CEO of Ai+ Smartphone
Stephen Rose
CEO Render Networks

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has brought a new long-term prepaid recharge to its customers. BSNL has priced the plan at Rs 997 and it takes on the similarly priced plans from Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio. BSNL Rs 997 prepaid recharge offers unlimited voice calling, 3GB daily data benefit and 100 SMSes per day for a period of 180 days. The new plan will be effective from November 10, 2019, and it seems like it will be available only in Kerala circle. For the unaware, Kerala is BSNL’s important circle as the telco has over 10 million subscribers in that circle alone. Additionally, the newly launched prepaid plan also comes with a Personalised Ringback Tone (PRBT) benefit for two months.

BSNL Rs 997 Prepaid Recharge: Validity and Benefits Detailed
The government-owned PSU has introduced the new long-term recharge to take on the similarly priced prepaid plans from telcos like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio. Bharti Airtel has a Rs 998 prepaid plan, while Vodafone Idea and Jio are offering Rs 999 recharges. And these prepaid plans from all the telcos offer validity of at least 90 days.
As for the benefits, the Rs 997 prepaid plan offers unlimited voice calls to any network including Mumbai & Delhi, 3GB daily data as speeds will be reduced to 80 Kbps post the daily limit, 100 SMSes per day and PRBT for two months. Having said that, BSNL is limiting the voice calls to just 250 minutes per day, similar to other unlimited combo prepaid plans from the telco.
As mentioned, the Rs 997 prepaid recharge from BSNL is launched only in Kerala circle for now and it will be available for recharge starting November 10.
BSNL Rs 997 vs Airtel Rs 998 vs Vodafone Rs 999 Prepaid Plans Compared