BSNL trumps Jio with lifetime free voice plan

State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has come up with plans that beat Reliance Jio's Rs149 entry price point.

While Jio's offering is only for the 4G customers, BSNL will offer the plan for all 2G, 3G and 4G customers.

Unlike Jio's 4G subscribers, the BSNL's plan 2G and 3G users, constitute the majority of mobile customers.

BSNL said its mobile customers with a BSNL broadband connection will be able to avail the plan.

According to Anupam Shrivastava, chairman and managing director, BSNL, the company will announce the zero-voice-tariff plans from January 2017.

"We are closely observing the market as well as Jio's performance. We will also come up with lifetime free-voice plans from the new year as part of fresh offerings," The Times of India quoted BSNL chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava as sayng . "We plan to be even lower than the Jio plan, and this could be by Rs2 - 4,'' Srivastava told the paper.

BSNL is popular in the interior parts of the country, particularly Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Haryana, Odisha and Punjab, is among the incumbents gearing up for a strong fight with the Jio.

Undoubtedly, Reliance Jio's launch has shaken the telecom space and the incumbents are scurrying to save their turf with lowered tariff plans for consumers.

BSNL's offer may put further pressure on operators such as Airtel+ , Vodafone and Idea to slash tariffs.

BSNL is, however, absent in key markets such as Mumbai and Delhi (serviced by MTNL).

Shrivastava said that the plan will be offered to BSNL's mobile customers who also have a broadband connection at home. "The idea is to use the home broadband to route outgoing mobile calls through the landline network. We estimate that a large amount of time is spent at home, and so here we can ride on our wire-line operations," he said.