When Reliance Jio arrived on the scene back in 2016, it completely changed the landscape of the Indian telecom space. Jio’s ultra-affordable data-voice combo plans completely took the rivals by surprise, eventually leading them to introduce more-competitive plans to go against Jio’s offerings. The next big battleground for Jio is the broadband sector, as the Mukesh Ambani-led company could launch its JioGigaFiber FTTH service any time. However, this time, the competition seems to be already prepared, or even a step ahead.
After quite a bit of rumors and a long wait, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has finally launched its own FTTH service in the country. Dubbed ‘Bharat Fiber’, the state-owned telecom company’s FTTH (Fiber to the Home) comes with speeds of up to 100Mbps. Subscribers need to pay Rs 500 as refundable security deposit for ONT (Optical Network Terminal), and the company will charge Rs 50 as monthly rental for the ONT.
As noted by Hindustan Times, BSNL’s ‘Bharat Fiber’ plans start at Rs 777 per month. The base-level plan offers speeds of up to 50Mbps for data consumption of 500GB. After that, the speed gets reduced to 2Mbps. Subscribers will also get 24×7 unlimited free calls to any network in India, and a free e-mail account with 1GB account space. The most-expensive plan costs a staggering Rs 16,999 per month. It offers speeds of 100Mbps till data consumption of 3500GB, after which the speed gets reduced to 10Mbps. Unlimited calling to any network across India and a free e-mail account are included in this package as well.
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With ‘Bharat Fiber’ BSNL has further intensified the battle in the country’s fiercely-contested broadband space. Airtel’s V-Fiber is already operating in many telecom circles across the country. It’ll be interesting to see how things change once JioGigaFiber officially rolls out.
