Airtel is challenging Reliance Jio’s Dhan Dhana Dhan offer with a few special recharge packs of its own. The two have been fighting for supremacy in the telecom sector for months now, and this is presumably just the latest chapter in what will be a drawn-out battle.
To recap, Reliance Jio’s Dhan Dhana Dhan scheme basically promises to deliver 1GB of free data every day for 84 days at Rs 309. Airtel’s now announced Rs 244 and Rs 399 packs to counter that. For Rs 244, users will get 1GB of free data per day for 70 days.
They’ll also have access to unlimited local and STD Airtel calls. However, the catch here is that a person would need to have a 4G smartphone and 4G SIM card to be eligible for the benefits. Moreover, the network operator’s site mentions that people can avail a maximum of 300 minutes worth of free Airtel to Airtel calls in a day and 1200 minutes of calls per week.
The Rs 399 pack is similar to the Rs 244 one, but ups the gains to free calls to any network and 3000 minutes of free calls for the entire 70-day period. If a subscriber exhausts the number of allocated minutes they’ll be charged at Rs 0.10 per minute.
There’s also a Rs 499 Airtel plan which offers 1.25GB of daily free data for the same 70 day period. This is likely meant to act as a foil to Jio’s Rs 509 pack which serves up 2GB data every day for 84 days. PTI reports that the former has filed an application against the latter to the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).
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Airtel is objecting to Jio replacing its 3-month complimentary Happy New Year offer with another 3-month Dhan Dhana Dhan offer. It thinks Reliance is violating the spirit of TRAI’s directive since the new scheme is basically the old scheme under a different name.