As expected, the country’s second largest mobile operator, Vodafone India, on Thursday joined market leader Bharti Airtel in offering free unlimited phone calls bundled with 3G/4G data for a minimum monthly commitment from post-paid subscribers, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. Bharti’s announcement had come on August 5, and was seen as pre-empting Reliance Jio’s move of offering free voice calls.
However, there are differences between Bharti’s and Vodafone’s offer. While Bharti’s base offer starts with a monthly payment of Rs 1,199 with 1GB 3G/4G data and free unlimited calling; Vodafone’s base offer begins with a monthly commitment of Rs 499 with 1GB data but it offers 700 minutes of voice call free. The free unlimited calling is for Rs 1,999, with which comes 8GB data. Another variant is for Rs 1,699, with 6GB data, where everything is similar to the Rs 1,999 package barring that while roaming only incoming calls will be free. There are packs of Rs 699, Rs 999 and Rs 1,299 but with limited free calling minutes and some other benefits.
The other variants of Bharti’s plans offer 5GB data for Rs 1,599, 10GB for Rs 1,999 and 20GB for Rs 2,999, all with free unlimited calls.
Reliance Jio is currently offering its free/trial subscription along with its own LYF handset, which comes with 25GB data per month for three months, while voice and SMS are free.