Airtel, Reliance Jio to extend their pricing war in broadband space now

Forget voice and data offerings, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have extended their pricing wars in the broadband space now, with the former offering up to double the high-speed data benefits for the same price.

Airtel’s move comes ahead of Jio's commercial launch of JioFiber, which is expected to start commercially in June.

"We believe these new plans will also drive the adoption of high-speed broadband in the country,” said Hemanth Kumar Guruswamy, CEO - Homes, Bharti Airtel (India).

Airtel had 1.96 million broadband customers as of March 31. In a bid to give tough fight to Jio-Fiber, Airtel will offer speeds of up to 1 GB per second.

Airtel also launched 'V-Fiber' services that allow its copper-based fixed-line network to offer up to 100 Mbps to homes. V-Fiber is available where Airtel doesn't have the fibre to offer broadband services.

Airtel said fixed broadband will also enable Internet of Things services for homes with connected appliances and more in the near future. The telco said its Rs 899 plan will now offer 60 GB highspeed data compared with 30 GB earlier, while the Rs 1,099 plan will offer 90 GB instead of 50 GB.