Airtel introduces free voice call pack for broadband customers

Bharti Airtel Limited on Monday announced that its broadband customers could enjoy free voice calls to any network in the country after the telco launched two first-of-its-kind voice calling packs for its broadband customers offering unlimited free voice calls at unbeatable prices to any number in India on any network, both fixed line and mobile, round the clock.

With the pack priced at only Rs49 per month, customers can enjoy unlimited free local calls and unlimited free STD + local calls at just Rs99 per month to any network, anywhere in the country to both landlines and mobile phones round the clock. The plan is meant for broadband users, and the offers are available exclusively for non-commercial use.

Existing customers have the option to subscribe to the packs by sending an SMS <UNL49> to 53636 for the Rs49 pack or <UNL99> to 53636 for the Rs99 pack from their registered mobile number. New customers could book a new broadband connection to avail these offers by sending an SMS <VOICE> to 53636.

The special plan comes with mainly two clauses to this special plan:

• The offer would be available to only non-commercial customers
• A fair usage cap of 5000 minutes monthly or 83.3 hours had been placed.

The latest offer from Airtel, which is an industry first in India, comes in direct response to BSNL's similar offer.

BSNL last week announced their new disruptive plans for landline connections: Free voice calls to any number all over India between 9PM to 7AM. Also in addition to landline customers, broadband customers of BSNL too would be eligible for the free voice call plan.

As of September 2014, the number of landline connections in India stood at 27.5 million, out of which 16.6 million are BSNL customers. Of the remaining percentage, Airtel, Reliance and Tata had the maximum customers.

Overall, landline customers are engaged in a losing battle against mobile connections (980 million as of September, 2014), with more and more Indians opting for wireless mode of communication.

However, landline phones still remain popular in countries like China, where alongside mobile, landline services are also used by an impressive percentage of users. As of now, there were close to 250 million households in China with landline connections, which have declined only 7 per cent over the last 12 months.