Bharti rolls out all-in-one bundle plan 'Airtel Black' to take on Jio

In a bid to take on Jio, Bharti Airtel on Friday launched a new all-in-one bundle plan ‘Airtel Black’ that includes DTH, postpaid and fibre with a single bill facility.

Shashwat Sharma, director of marketing and communications, Bharti Airtel, said, “Airtel Black is another step in our obsession for solving our customer problems at Airtel. As an integrated operator, Airtel is uniquely positioned to deliver an exceptional experience on all home services — fibre, DTH and mobile — to our customers. And, Airtel Black is focussed on doing just that.”

The company’s previous offering, One Airtel, allows combining two or more services in one plan, to generate a single bill for the consumer.

Under this new service, Airtel will also allow users to customise their plans. The plans have gone live and can be accessed through the Airtel app by following certain steps or by visiting the ‘Airtel Black’ microsite.

Bharti Airtel said it will provide dedicated relationship managers with a 60-seconds call pick-up facility.

“All of this comes with zero-switching and installation costs coupled with free service visits for life,” Airtel said in a statement.

There are four new fixed-bundle plans under the ‘Airtel Black’ banner priced from Rs 998 per month to Rs 2,099 per month.

The Rs 2,099 per month plan offers three mobile connections, one fibre connection and one DTH connection. The Rs 1,598 per month plan offers two mobile connections and one fibre connection. The Rs 1,349 per month plan offers three mobile connections and one DTH connection and lastly the Rs 998 per month plan provides two mobile connections and one DTH connection.

Even though the plan is not similar to Reliance Jio’s new offering, it comes close on the heels of the rival’s offer.

Earlier this week, Jio launched its Rs 3,499 prepaid plan, which offers 3 GB of data per day for one year.

One can recharge to Jio’s new annual plan via the official website and the MyJio mobile app. The Rs 3,499 plan is the most expensive plan that Jio offers. After consuming 3GB data in a day, users will still have access to the internet with browsing speeds dropping to 64Kbps.

The plan also offers unlimited voice calling and 100 SMSes per day. Additionally, customers will also get a subscription to all Jio apps and services, including Jio TV, Jio News, Jio Cinema, Jio Security and Jio Cloud.

 Interestingly, the plan does not offer a subscription to any third-party OTT platforms like Disney+ Hotstar, which is offered as part of various other plans of the company.

Jio had also recently announced five new prepaid plans with no daily limit. These plans allow users to consume the allotted data with no daily restrictions along with unlimited voice calls. The no-daily-limit plans start from Rs 127 and offer unlimited voice calling with free subscription to Jio apps.