Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is gaining new customers after Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea increased their tariffs. On July 3 and July 4, private telecom companies—Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea—raised their tariffs by 11-25 per cent. This led to many complaints on social media, with hashtags like 'BSNL ki ghar wapsi' and 'BoycottJio' trending.
According to a report by The Economic Times, since these tariff hikes, about 2,50,000 people have switched to BSNL using mobile number portability (MNP). BSNL also gained around 2.5 million new connections as their tariffs are still affordable for low-income users. The maximum price hike was seen with the annual data plans with a spike of Rs 600. The price for Airtel and Reliance's annual pack with 365 days of validity is Rs 3,599. The BSNL plan with 395 days of validity with the same amount of data (2GB/day) is priced at Rs 2,395.
The new minimum 28-day plan from Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea costs Rs 199, and Rs 189 from Reliance Jio. Meanwhile, BSNL offers similar plans starting at Rs 108.
BSNL has several monthly plans between Rs 107 and Rs 199, and a Rs 229 plan that includes unlimited data, voice calls, and some OTT apps.
BSNL is the fourth biggest telecom company in the country but is still struggling to match up with the private players. The company is yet to complete the 4G rollout. Despite the better pricing, BSNL is missing out on 5G infrastructure. However, the company plans to start rolling out 5G from next year.
Reliance Jio and Airtel have also decided to provide Unlimited 5G data with some of their plans. Any plan that provides 2GB data per day or more will provide Unlimited 5G data. Reliance Jio has also launched affordable plans starting at Rs 51 that provide unlimited 5G to the existing valid plan.