In a bid to counter rival Jio, Airtel introduces new 'postpaid family plan'

Going neck-to-neck against its rival Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel has announced an attractive new offering aimed at gaining market share. In an announcement made on March 20, Airtel reduced the entry-level tariffs for its postpaid family plans. The telecom operator introduced a Rs 599 plan alongside two other options priced at Rs 799 and Rs 998. The Rs 799 and Rs 998 plans are part of the Airtel Black packages.

At this point, Airtel is providing two classes of postpaid services. One are the regular postpaid plans, which have the option of adding family numbers to plan according to tariffs. On the other hand, Airtel is offering its "exclusive" Airtel Black postpaid service, which brings DTH, broadband, landline, and cellular services under one umbrella. With Airtel Black, customers can combine any two of these services. Airtel Black plans, however, come at a premium.

With its more economical regular postpaid family plans, Airtel plans to cater to a wider range of its customers' needs and add new ones to its folds.

Airtel's new entry-level tariff of Rs 599 is expected to target customers with smaller families. As things stand, Airtel's regular Rs 999 postpaid plan supports up to four SIM cards, which may not be required for a family of two. The new Rs 599 regular postpaid plan can cater to such customers. With this plan, each connection will cost only Rs 300 and get a total of 105 GB of data.

Airtel's 599 Regular Postpaid Plan

With a monthly rental of Rs 599, Airtel is providing a 1 regular plus 1 free family add-on facility. In addition to regular benefits like 75 GB of data per month, unlimited calling, and 100 SMS per day, the plan offers an Amazon Prime subscription.

Airtel's 999 Regular Postpaid Plan

This plan allows 1 regular plus 3 free family add-ons. This plan has 100 GB of data per month. All other benefits are similar to those of the Rs 599 plan.

However, the Jio offer has an upside for customers who want Netflix subscriptions at economical rates because it is Reliance Jio that offers Netflix as well as Prime Video with its regular postpaid plans. Airtel customers will have to buy more expensive Airtel Black plans to access Netflix.

While Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea provide access to OTT services, neither of them provides a plan that brings landline, DTH, broadband, and cellular services under one roof.