Bharti Airtel Offers Free Voice Calling Ahead of Jio Debut

Bharti Airtel Ltd. announced free voice calling under two new plans, triggering a fresh round of tariff wars ahead of the launch of Reliance Jio’s telecom services.

The two new postpaid plans, under the ‘myPlan Infinity’ series, will offer unlimited voice calls, the company said in its press release.

Under the Rs 1,199 plan, customers will get free calls, bundled with 1 GB of 3G or 4G data and 100 SMS’ per day. The Rs 1,599 plan will offer unlimited voice calling, 100 SMS’ per day, and 5 GB of 3G or 4G data.

The new price points will make services more affordable and benefit customers with very heavy voice usage, Ajai Puri, the director for operations at Bharti Airtel, said in the press release.

Reliance Jio’s August Launch?

Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. is planning to launch its mobile-phone service in August, after missing multiple internal deadlines, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Reliance Jio has already started operating services for select users on a trial basis. Reliance has invested $22 billion into its telecommunications business, and has outlined a strategy to offer high speed data at cheap rates.

Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular Ltd. had both cut pre-paid data tariffs in July, in a bid to stop customers from switching to Reliance Jio.