India's biggest telecom carrier Vodafone Idea Ltd has announced a new unlimited prepaid data plan with lucrative benefits.
Vodafone Idea's new Rs 396 tariff plan offers 1.4GB data allowance per day, true free calling (local and STD) with no cap on timings, free national roaming, 100 SMSs per day and also access to the Vodafone Play multimedia streaming service, which offers more than 5,000 hours of content in addition to access to 300 plus live TV channels.
This Vodafone Rs 396 pack comes with a validity of 69 days, which is kind of a downer considering the fact that Vodafone Idea is facing a tough battle with an emerging player like Reliance and also arch-rival Airtel, which is also launching several lucrative tariff plans.
It can be noted that in December 2018, Vodafone Idea started discontinuing services to prepaid customers with low currency and reportedly lost more than 25 lakh subscribers in the same month. If it wants to stay as the country largest network carrier, it has come with better tariff packs or else risk losing the crown to Reliance Jio before the end of 2019.
Here's how Vodafone's Rs 396 plan fares against Reliance Jio, Airtel and BSNL:
Airtel doesn't offer Rs 396 pack like Vodafone, but the closest one is Rs 399. It has an insignificant price difference, but the benefits are far better than the latter. With Rs 399 plan, Airtel subscribers are entitled to get 1GB data per day, free calling (local and STD), 100 SMSs per day, access to Airtel TV, Wynk music service and the good part is that it comes with a validity of 84 days, 15 days more than Vodafone pack.
With Reliance Rs 399, consumers can enjoy 1.5GB 4G data per day, free calling (local & STD), 100 SMSs per day, access to JioCinema, JioSavaan and several other Jio suite of multimedia apps for 84 days.
However, BSNL offers the highest data benefits up to 3.2GB data per day in all regions except for Mumbai and Delhi, but unfortunately, it is 3G, not 4G offered by rival companies. Other benefits include free calling (local and national), 100 SMSs per day, BSNL Tunes and validity of 74 days.