The battle for Telecom supremacy between Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications has entered a new phase with Reliance Communications [Rcom] lowering entry level mobile service lifetime tariffs to as low as Rs 199, while Bharti Airtel is charging Reliance Communications 10-12 times higher for interim undersea international bandwidth.
Rcom lowered the cost of lifetime validity cards to Rs 199 in pre-paid segment where majority of the Indian consumers are [~90%]. By recharging once in 6 months customers can continue to enjoy FREE incoming calls. Mr. Shukla, President RCom Wireless business said,
This makes Reliance’s lifetime plan the cheapest one in the market. As a side effect, this will help us in retaining our subscribers.
Other Telecom operators are likely to slash tariff to compete with RCom. This move was anticipated but only at the launch of Reliance GSM services to attract moving customers to Reliance platform. Expect this tariff battle to strengthen further in the next few months 🙂
Rcom has charged that Airtel is charging up to 12 times the tariff for interim undersea bandwidth and has sought the intervention of DoT and TRAI. Airtel has dismissed the allegations.
In a separate development, Reliance GSM has obtained license for CDMA services in Assam and North-East.
Image Courtesy deviantart.com
Disclaimer: Through various means I hold RCom shares.