Airtel Rs 149 Plan Now Offers Unlimited Outgoing Roaming Calls – But There’s A Catch!

It seems that the telecom pricing war seeing no signs of letting up. Just a couple of days ago we had reported that Jio has turned profitable in just 15 months. It was an incredible milestone when you consider that Jio offers some of the cheapest data and calling plans in India. That too after offering free data and calling for 6 months after its launch.

Now, Jio has become the telecom to beat. All the telecoms in India aspire to beat Jio by constantly revising their plans and trying to offer more than Jio at a lower cost. Towards this goal, Airtel has tweaked its existing Rs. 149/- prepaid recharge plan to include free outgoing calls in national roaming.

However, there’s a catch. This prepaid recharge plan is not available all over India. According to telecomtalk.info, when they checked, the plan was available for only two of their Airtel prepaid numbers in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana circle.

So, is the revised Rs. 149/- plan worth it?

Let’s check it out.

Airtel Rs 149 Prepaid Recharge Pack

The revised 149 plan is Airtel’s cheapest plan which offers unlimited calling. In this plan, Airtel is now offering unlimited local and STD voice calls, even outgoing in roaming, for a period of 28 days. Users will be able to send 100 free SMS per day. But the data offered in this plan is downright disappointing. Users will get only 1GB data for the entire period of 28 days validity.

As stated earlier, this plan is not yet available in all circles. Interestingly, Airtel has also added free unlimited calls to other networks, whereas previously it was limited to Airtel’s networks.

What’s surprising is that Airtel already has a plan which offers all these benefits, but at a higher price of Rs. 178/- (in the Maharastra circle). But it shows roaming outgoing calls as being chargeable. This could mean two things;

1. Either Airtel is planning to do away with the Rs. 178/- plan, or
2. The revised Rs. 149/- plan could be a limited period offer.

Either way, we will gain some clarity over the coming days.

So, Is It Better Than Jio’s Rs 149 Plan

Jio recently launched their revised Happy New Year 2018 prepaid plans at the beginning of this year. And they continue to dominate. Consider this.

Jio’s 149 plan offers;

• Unlimited free incoming and outgoing calls. There is no concept of roaming in Jio.
• 100 free SMS per day.
• 1GB high-speed data per day, which becomes 28GB high-speed data for 28 days, the plan’s validity.

To top it all, Jio’s plans are the same all over India. There is no segmentation of plans based on circles. Even when you use up all your day’s quota, you can still use the internet, albeit at a reduced speed of 64 kbps. Jio’s subscribers also get free access to Jio’s premium suite of apps.

So, in spite of revising their Rs. 149/- plan to include free outgoing while roaming and free calls to other networks, Airtel’s plan falls short of Jio’s where high-speed data is concerned.

Jio is proving hard to beat so far. Shouldn’t Airtel include 1GB high-speed data per day, at least to be at par with Jio’s offering? Share your thoughts in the comments below.