Netflix launches Rs 199 mobile-only plan in India

Netflix has finally launched a mobile-only plan in India. Unlike rumours that placed the pricing for the new plan at Rs 250, Netflix has launched the mobile-only version for Rs 199. For now, the Rs 199 per month plan has been unveiled only in India. Netflix executives have confirmed that the company is, however, testing the plan in other parts of the world.

The Rs 199 plan goes live today and it supports only one screen. The plan also supports SD streaming.

Netflix has revealed that India has the biggest smartphone user base in the world. Moreover, the streaming service is also targeting tier two and tier three cities with this plan.

With this mobile-only plan, Netflix is aiming to compete with other streaming services such as Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, ALT Balaji, Zee5 and other competitors. The popular streaming service is the costliest streaming service in the country. Currently in India, Netflix offers three plans - Rs 499 per month, Rs 649 per month and Rs 799 per month. Customers can access one screen for the Rs 499 plan, while they can access two and four screens for the Rs 649 and Rs 799 plans respectively.

The streaming service recently crossed a benchmark and made it to 151.5 million subscribers. The company added 2.7 million new subscribers in the second quarter of 2019, which is only half of their 5 million new subscribers estimate that the analysts predicted.

In India, the OTT market is dominated by Hotstar that offers the cheapest subscription. According to a RedSeer Consulting report, Hotstar has 300 million monthly active users, while Amazon Prime has 13 million and Netflix has 11 million.

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