As we step into 2023 with new hopes, telcos have some good news in the form of 5G services for us. However advanced we get with technology, there are some essential prerequisites we need to cater for our daily mobility needs. As we enter the new week of the New Year 2023, Let's look at the yearly plans offered by Bharti Airtel and Jio and see who provides better options to consumers in this analysis.
Consumer Options
Not every customer is the same, and everyone has varied requirements and use cases. For example, some users only need voice offerings with little data, some need a mix of both, and some only need voice benefits. Yearly plans offer extra comfort with year-long benefits with one-time recharge. With annual recharge plans, customers don't need to worry or track tariff plans only to recharge that value-for-benefit offering. Now that the context, let's see who offers better options in the yearly plan segment, considering even the minute details.
Airtel vs Jio Yearly Prepaid Plans
Airtel Yearly Plans
Airtel offers three choices of yearly plans with different consumer use cases. Two plans cater to data and voice usage customers (one with OTT and one without OTT), and one plan caters to voice users with a minimal amount of data offered in bulk for keeping updated. Airtel has Rs 3359, Rs 2999 and Rs 1799 yearly plan options for customers.
Yearly Plan option 1 Rs 3359 offers a 2.5 GB per Day, Prime Video ME for 1 Year, Disney + Hotstar mobile for 1 year, and Unlimited Voice and SMS benefits.
Yearly Plan option 2, Rs 2999 offers a 2 GB per Day and unlimited voice and SMS benefits. Yearly Plan option 3 Rs 1799 is for customers looking for an annual recharge option with Unlimited Voice, 3600 SMS and 24 GB of bulk data, which can be used any time of the year.
You can also read in detail about the yearly plans of Airtel and other available Data Add-ons in the story here.
Jio Annual Plans
Jio offers only two choices of yearly plans with 365 days of validity. In addition, there is one more plan (Rs 2545) which Jio claims to be an Annual plan, but in reality, it is not an annual plan, as its validity is only 336 Days, around 11 months. So, considering the above, Jio has Rs 2999 and Rs 2879 plan options for customers as yearly recharges.
Yearly Plan option 1 Rs 2999 offers customers 2.5 GB per day of data and unlimited voice and SMS benefits. Jio added an extra 75 GB of Data and 23 Days of validity as a New Year Benefit. This is the same plan that Jio regularly keeps revising benefits for festivals or events.
Yearly Plan option 2 Rs 2879 is bundled with 2 GB per day data benefits and unlimited voice and SMS benefits as tabulated above.
Also Read: Explained: Differences Between 5G NSA and SA
5G Data Benefits
Airtel allows customers to use 5G on existing Data plans until the rollout is complete without any invite-based approach. Jio, on the other hand, has a mandatory recharge condition to be enrolled in an invite-only-based approach to experience 5G on an Unlimited usage basis.
While Airtel 5G is a commercial launch and an open offering, Jio's 5G is a beta and an invite-only based approach. So far, Jio has also not announced the number of customers utilizing its 5G Services in its invite-only based approach.
You can check out the exact 5G launch details, circles, spectrum holdings and locations of 5G availability in India on the page here.
Conclusion
Airtel offers more options for customers looking for yearly plans from a consumer usage perspective. In the annual recharge segment, Airtel has three plan options for customers, whereas Jio has two options for customers. The Yearly Plan option 3, Rs 1799, offered by Airtel, stands apart to those customers looking for yearly unlimited voice benefits with a minimalistic bulk data option to stay connected via email and IM. Jio's highest slab yearly plan doesn't offer any OTT benefits, whereas it is currently offering extra data and validity benefits as part of its New Year offer. Airtel offers a variety of yearly options to customers when compared to Jio.
