Airtel lowers broadband rates, triggers price war

New Delhi, Jul 31: Dropping the rates of its broadband service, Bharati Airtel is all set to spark off a war in the country's broadband arena.

Airtel subscribers are now being offered 1 Mbps browsing speed at Rs. 1,699 per month while the 512 Kbps plan will cost Rs. 1,099 per month. The company is also planning on introducing free Value-Added Service (VAS) package worth up to Rs 500 per month.

Following this news, Airtel's main competitors, the government-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) announced that they will bring down their prices lower than that of Airtel.

"If our private competition reduces tariff, then we will certainly react and have a look at our tariff," said MTNL director (technical) Kuldeep Singh claiming that MTNL was 'more competitive than our competitors'.

BSNL tariffs too are set to go down. "New plans are being finalised and we will soon announce them," said a BSNL official who wished to remain anonymous.

OneIndia News