India's fifth largest telecom service provider BSNL or Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd with over 107 million subscribers under its belt has now announced the withdrawal of several prepaid plans including the data STVs and combo STVs. The list also includes the recently revised prepaid data plan of STV 821. Overall, BSNL confirmed to withdraw seven prepaid plans across all the circles where it has operations. The unlimited data STV plans are Rs 398, Rs 629, Rs 2,399, Rs 821 and Rs 1,949, whereas the prepaid combo STVs are Rs 3,099 and Rs 1,402. BSNL confirmed that users would not be able to recharge with these plans anymore as the withdrawal is completed on February 17 itself.
All the plans withdrawn by BSNL are popular ones, especially the Rs 821 prepaid data STV plan as it offers 1GB data per day for 120 days. The Rs 398 and Rs 629 tariff plans used to offer 2GB data per day and 3GB data per day for 30 days from the date of recharge. The Rs 1,949 data STV offered unlimited data with 1GB data per day limit and 40 Kbps after FUP speed for 300 days.
The combo STVs are not the best ones in the market though. The Rs 1,402 combo STV plan of BSNL used to offer Rs 1,402 usage value in the customer's main account along with 250MB data, 250 SMS for 30 days.
The Rs 3,099 combo STV plan offered 15GB of data, unlimited on-net calls even on roaming, 500 minutes of off-net calls even on roaming for 60 days.
So these plans are no more valid, which is a huge letdown for BSNL prepaid customers. However, do make a note that customers whoever recharged with the tariff plan already will continue to get the same benefits for the validity period, but for those who're looking for the plans mentioned above should look for some other existing tariff plan.
While withdrawing these plans, BSNL introduced a couple of new voice calling plans of Rs 99 and Rs 319 offering unlimited voice calls without any limit for 26 days and 90 days respectively. Both the plans are already effective on the Pan-India basis for BSNL prepaid subscribers.
