Airtel Aims At Countering Competition From Jio Fibre; Launches Xstream Broadband And Entertainment Service At Rs 3,999/Month

Bharti Airtel on Wednesday (11 September) rolled out its much-anticipated broadband service ‘Airtel Xstream’ offering 1 gbps speed for Rs 3,999 month, reported The Hindu. The move is said to be a counter measure to the competition posed by Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Fibre.

“Starting today, Airtel Xstream Fibre is available to Homes, SOHO (Small Office Home Office) and small commercial establishments in Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Indore, Jaipur and Ahmedabad,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

Sunil Mittal’s company also informed, the service would be rolled out in other cities as well in the next few months.

Along with the high speed internet, three months free Netflix subscription, one year of Amazon Prime membership, and Zee5 premium subscription will also be provided to the customers.

On the other hand, Ambani’s fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service or Jio Fiber, that was launched on 5 September, offers rental plans starting at Rs 699 and going up to Rs 8,499. It aims at providing customers with a range of products and services including a free HD TV set, free voice calls for life from landline, 100 mbps to 1 gbps broadband internet speed at low prices.

Reliance Jio Infocomm, in the recent years, has swept the Indian wireless phone market with its free voice calls and cheap internet rates. This has resulted in big losses to telecom operating players such as Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea. As tycoon Mukesh Ambani entered the broadband and TV services market, a threat has ben predicted for the existing service providers.