BSNL unveils Rs 249 unlimited wireline broadband plan to fight Reliance Jio

In a bid to counter Reliance Jio's Rs 50 per GB data plan, BSNL has unveiled a new, unlimited wireline broadband plan.

On 3 September, BSNL announced its plans to launch a promotional unlimited wireline broadband plan that effectively translates into less than Re 1 per GB download cost for subscribers if they use up to 300GB data in a month.

"BSNL is going to launch a very cost-effective and affordable promotional unlimited Broadband plan 'Experience Unlimited BB 249' from 9 September, 2016," the telecom PSU said.

In a statement, chairman-cum-Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said that wireline broadband services will attract new users.

"Under this plan, customers can download unlimited Broadband data without bothering about any data limit in GB. BSNL shall offer 2 Mbps speed under this plan. Hence, per GB of data download cost comes out as less than Re 1 per GB. After six months, customer will be migrated to one of the regular broadband plan based on the choice of the customer," BSNL said in the statement.

Shrivastava added that BSNL is the only operator offering lowest per GB data download cost plan under broadband services in the country.

At Reliance Industries 42th Annual General Meeting, Chairman Mukesh Ambani had said data must be "affordable". He had said that against the prevailing market rate of Rs 250 per GB, Jio's rates will be Rs 25-50 per GB depending on data usage. Reliance Jio 4G services is targeting 100 million customers in the shortest time possible.

BSNL said that if customers use the plan continuously in a month, they can download upto 300 GB data by paying Rs 249.