Just a few days back, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) was in a fix after TRAI sought a clarification on its stance to extend its limited fixed-mobile telephony (FTM) services. The state-run telco in a bid to gain traffic and increase their subscriber base has now launched unlimited voice calling facility, after a hold on its FMT services. This move is obviously made to counter Reliance Jio’s offering of free unlimited VoLTE based voice calling and aggressive mobile data tariff plans.
BSNL Dil Khol Ke Bol Offer
The new unlimited voice calling offer comes with a benefit of free roaming across India. Roaming is now as it is dead after Bharti Airtel also announced scrapping of roaming for Voice, Data as well as SMS across India earlier yesterday.
The pack called ‘Dil Khol Ke Bol’ is priced at Rs. 599 (a month) and is currently only available for its postpaid customers across India’s 22 telecom circles.
The pack also offers 6GB of data every month until first four months and 3GB data thereafter every month, as per an ET report. To avail the offer the users will have to pay Rs. 599 for the first four months, then the amount would increase to Rs. 799 for the post promotional period.
Recently, BSNL had also revised its data rates in Goa by offering four times extra data on existing data special tariff vouchers (STV) available in the market. Last month, the telco revamped its calling rate packs by introducing data plans at Rs. 149 and slashed its 3G data tariff.
BSNL Partners With Nokia For 5G & IoT Foray
BSNL is about to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Finland-headquartered smartphone company Nokia in the domain of 5G and Internet of Things (IoT). The MoU is expected to be signed at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC). The accord entails strategic cooperation for smooth network evolution and upgrading the existing 4G standard to 5G.
“After 4G, the future is 5G and IoT, which is useful in the concept such as smart cities… The MoU will help BSNL to draw a framework for the transition from the current network to futuristic 5G network,” BSNL Chairman Anupam Shrivastava told PTI.
The pact also includes collaborative workshops to define a phased strategy for network evolution and transformation and the implications on business, technology and operations, Anupam added.
He also mentioned that Nokia’s partnership with BSNL by sharing 5G technology concepts, new product launches and innovations available in the public domain demonstrate possibilities of 5G and IoT for Indian market.
Overall, in the last few months, BSNL has aggressively approached the market not only by launching some very competitive pre-paid and post-paid plans, but is also now looking to upgrade its infrastructure to ensure that they stay relevant in the coming future!