New Delhi: Data tariffs for mobile phones are set for a major fall with Bharti Airtel offering high-speed 4G packs below the prices of 3G plans.
The development comes ahead of the launch of 4G services by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and signals a high-pitched tariff war on the mobile data front, similar to what happened in voice tariffs, where prices in India are among the lowest in the world now.
“We have decided to offer 4G tariffs below the 3G rates for high consumption users,” Srini Gopalan, director for Airtel’s consumer business, said reporter here. Also, the company will shift 3G customers to 4G at the same rates (provided they have a 4G compatible phone).
Take this for an example. While the monthly tariff of a 10GB data plan is Rs 1,499 on 3G network for an Airtel postpaid customer, the same will be Rs 999 on 4G. And, the data transmission speed on 4G is over 30 mbps compared to an average of about 1-3 mbps on 3G.
Gopalan said rollout of 4G network across cities, coupled with availability of affordable devices, will boost growth of the high-speed network. Airtel currently offers 4G network in 15 cities after first rolling it out in Kolkata in April 2012. These are Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Mohali, Nagpur, Nasik, Panchkula, Patiala, Phagwara and Pune. To shift to the 4G network in these cities, a subscriber with a 4G compatible phone needs to change his SIM. Gopalan said the company may launch 4G services in Delhi and NCR very soon. “We are ready with our set-up and are awaiting an approval from the Department of Telecom (DoT). The moment we get that, we will roll out our services.”
