India's leading telecom service provider Vodafone Idea has launched a new Rs 1,999 yearly prepaid tariff plan with more data benefits and more.
Vodafone Idea, earlier in the week, revealed it lost more than 35 million customers in the quarter ending December 2018. It is believed that the company's initiative to discontinue services to subscribers with low currency balance might have forced them to jump to other telecom brands.
Vodafone Idea was very much aware of the risk, but in the view of increasing the Average Revenue per User (APU), they went ahead with the plan and in the past few weeks, it has introduced several lucrative tariff plans to keep the loyal patrons stay back and control the attrition rate.
In the latest move, Vodafone Idea's Rs 1,999 yearly plan is offering 1.5GB 4G data per day (total 547.5GB), 100 SMSs per day (total 36,500) and unlimited calling (STD & local), free national roaming and access free live TV and multimedia content via Vodafone Play.
This is Rs 300 more than the original Vodafone Rs 1,699 annual yearly prepaid plan. It has most of the benefits are as same as the new pack, but the only difference is that it offers just Rs 1GB per day (total 365GB).
Here's how Vodafone's Rs 1999 unlimited prepaid plan compares to Reliance Jio, Airtel and BSNL:
Vodafone Idea's new Rs 1,999 plan pales in comparison to rival brands. For instance, Reliance Jio offers everything as the former, if not more for just Rs 1699.
With this, Jio consumers are entitled to get 1.5GB/day (equivalent to 547.5GB per year), truly unlimited voice calling (no ceiling on call minutes per day), 100 SMS/day, access to Jio suite of apps including JioCinema, JioSaavn Music and more.
On the other hand, Airtel has no Rs 1,999 plan but has Rs 1,699 annual renewable prepaid pack. It offers 1GB/day, free calling (local and STD), national roaming and 100 SMSs per day and the validity is for 365 days (one year).
Surprisingly, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) offers the best data benefits among the lot. Consumers subscribed to the national carrier's yearly Rs 2,099 prepaid plan can enjoy 4GB/day (beyond consumption limit, the speed drops to 80Kbps), free calling (local and STD), national roaming and 100 SMSs per day. The validity is for 365 days (one year). It can be noted that this BSNL service is not available in Mumbai and Maharashtra circle. Also, it offers the 3G internet, not 4G speed as we see in rival branded services.
