Bharati Airtel launches new plans to counter Jio

In what appears to be a never-ending battle to attract customers, Bharati Airtel put up its dukes in an attempt to retain the hordes of customers who are flocking for Jio SIM cards. The Financial Express points out Airtel’s latest offer that the publication claims should work better for the telco’s data-hungry customers. Airtel’s new plan offers 1GB of data per month for Rs 1,498. Customers can then get unlimited updates for just Rs 51. All a customer will need to do is recharge just once a month and he will end up paying Rs 2110 per year for 13GB of data. This is a saving considering that the same customer would end up paying Rs 3,367 using older plans. Airtel claims that this is a win-win for everyone. Other operators too have begun clubbing their services together. According to PTI,  the industry has been trying various data pricing strategies, with Bharati Airtel, Vodafone and Idea trying out innovative price structures. As per the Business Standard, the growth of the mobile broadband ecosystem will depend not just on data tariffs, but also on the content system. Few players in the telecom space currently offer the same, so the one with better content could have an edge. At the same time Analysys Mason sees a situation in which data tariffs come down so drastically that they would resemble developed markets. For this to happen, there would need to be a 75 percent drop in tariffs. According to the same, it is higher data tariff plans that have so far  prevented data penetration leading to stagnation. Hopefully, the newer revamped tariff plans from incumbent operators should now prevent this. Disclaimer: Reliance Jio is owned by Reliance Industries, who also own Network18, the publisher of Firstpost and tech2.