The telecom segment in India seems to be settled now, at least in the tariff plans department because Reliance Jio is not launching any new tariff plans and it may continue the same until July 2017 or till the end of Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan offer. However, operators are silently fighting with each other to provide best plans to their customers.
While the prepaid customers enjoyed some decent plans in the past six months, postpaid customers were left with regular plans. However, Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea offered free data to the customers, but it came nowhere close to prepaid packs operators offered.
Bharti Airtel has the best-in-class postpaid plans amongst the country's top three telecom operators, which is followed by Idea Cellular and lastly Vodafone India. Airtel has been aggressive in the postpaid department as well, but Idea Cellular made some changes silently in the background.
Airtel changed its myPlan Infinity postpaid plans numerous times in the last six months, and the plans now start from Rs. 499 and goes all the way up to Rs. 2,999. Idea Cellular has a broad range of postpaid plans to choose from- ultimate, combo, buffet, etc. The Idea Ultimate postpaid plans offer more value for money than the other schemes.
Airtel recently introduced the Rs. 649 plan, while Idea has an Ultimate 649 plan. Both the plans offer similar benefits, nonetheless. But which offer has an edge? Let's find out.
The Idea Ultimate 649 plan and Airtel's myPlan Infinity Rs. 649 plan offer unlimited and STD calls along with outgoing and incoming roaming calls. Also, there's no FUP limit for the voice calls with both the plans. They also offer 3000 local+national SMS for 30 days with a daily limit of 100SMS.
Idea Cellular vs Bharti Airtel Best Cheapest Postpaid Plan
| Airtel myPlan Infinity 649 | Idea Ultimate 649 | |
| Voice Calls | Unlimited Local+STD calls, Unlimited Roaming Incoming and Outgoing Calls | Unlimited Local + National + Roaming Calls |
| SMS | 3000 SMS Per Billing Cycle with 100 SMS per cap per day | 3000 SMS Per Billing Cycle with 100 SMS per cap per day |
| Data | 7GB of data | 5GB of data |
| New user offers | New Users will get 10GB data per month for 3 months | No new user data |
However, Airtel has an edge in the data offering. Airtel is providing 7GB data with its myPlan Infinity 649, while Idea is providing just 5GB per billing cycle. Also, Airtel's 4G network is present everywhere in the country, but that's not the case with Idea as it lacks 4G in two telecom circles- Delhi and Kolkata.
That said, Airtel goes past Idea in the data segment, but previously Airtel also used to offer 5GB data, but they modified it to 7GB recently. Maybe Idea will also change it to 7GB per month in coming days.
