Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), the state-owned telecom operator, is not offering 20GB 3G data for Rs. 50, as reported by several media outlets recently. Sources familiar with the matter have informed the Times of India that the carrier hasn't officially announced any offer nor has it any intension of offering such a scheme.
"BSNL has not officially declared any offer like 20GB 3G data for Rs 50 and neither does the company intends to do so," the source told TOI.
Such an offer could bring new subscribers on board in India, which is still in the phase of getting digitally connected everywhere. BSNL has a wide network across India, including reliable service in the rural areas. The 20GB 3G data offer for Rs. 50 could easily appeal smartphone users, but it was too good to be true.
BSNL has been making other changes on the tariffs and its network to attract subscribers. The carrier lifted roaming charges on incoming calls anywhere in India and reduced call rates for pre-paid customers by 80 percent earlier this year. BSNL is also bringing 4G LTE across India, joining Airtel, Vodafone and Idea and soon-to-come Reliance Jio in offering high-speed internet networks in India.
BSNL also started testing Wi-Fi networks in select villages to fast-track the high-speed internet service in the rural India. "We have started a pilot to test broadband connectivity to village panchayats using WiFi network. With this we are hopeful of connecting about 1 lakh village panchayats in a year," Anupam Shrivastava, BSNL chairman and managing director, said at the time.
According to the TOI report, BSNL added an average of 22 lakh new subscribers every month in January-March of 2015-16. The operator had 79.6 million users in the mobile segment as of September 2015 and ranked among the top five players in the country in the same month.
