Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has been silently making its prepaid plans expensive. On Thursday, TelecomTalk reported about the revamp of a very affordable Rs 94 prepaid plan. While there are other plans as well which have been made indirectly expensive by BSNL, right now, our focus is on the Rs 499 plan by the state-run telco. The BSNL Rs 499 plan now offers lesser validity than what is used to. The data benefits remain the same. However, you do get some other additional benefits. Take a look at the complete benefits of the Rs 499 prepaid plan from BSNL.
BSNL Rs 499 Prepaid Plan Old vs New Benefits
BSNL’s Rs 499 prepaid plan now comes with the following: 80 days of validity, 2GB of daily data, unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS/day, along with PRBT, Zing and Eros Now. Earlier, this plan came with Rs 90 days of validity and 2GB of daily data with unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS/day. Let’s see just how expensive this plan has become. With 90 days of validity, this plan came for Rs 5.54 for each day and each GB of data used to cost just Rs 2.77. But after the reduction in validity, the daily cost of the plan has gone up from Rs 5.54 to Rs 6.23, and each GB of data costs Rs 3.31 instead of Rs 2.77. While it is a marginal increase in the cost of the plan, it would definitely irk users of the telco who still can’t get 4G. Without launching 4G, BSNL can’t possibly justify the cost of its services when the private telcos are offering 4G services at just a few extra rupees a day. For now, BSNL seems to be on track to launch 4G network services for customers, and it could come as early as January for the users. Telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has also said that 5G from BSNL could be launched in a span of just 6 to 7 months post-4G launch.
