International roaming is a new battleground as Airtel and Vi bundle loyalty play

As telcos look for differentiated plays, what was once an expensive travel add-on is now becoming part of the standard postpaid plan

Days after Vi announced an innovative bundling of international roaming (IR) packs with certain prepaid recharge and postpaid plans, Bharti Airtel has responded by bundling international roaming with all postpaid plans. This includes Airtel’s individual postpaid as well as family postpaid plans.

As telcos look for differentiated plays, what was once an expensive travel add-on is now becoming part of the standard postpaid plan

There is value to be found in Airtel’s proposition, particularly for the family plans that include more than one postpaid SIM as part of the same bill plan—that is because the free International Roaming option is available once a year for each family member who is part of the plan.

Airtel says that the complimentary International Roaming pack offers 5GB of data, with 60 minutes of calls, 25 outgoing SMS, and free incoming SMS with a validity of 5 days, and can be activated once every year. This is a new layer to the IR tariffs. Existing plans include ₹2,999 (10 days validity for unlimited data use and 100 SMS per day), ₹3,999 (30 days validity), and ₹5,999 (90 days validity with 900 minutes of calls).

The key here is that a user must have the international roaming service active on their number, and the complimentary pack can be selected from the ‘Rewards’ section in the Airtel app—this will be available from October 8.

Secondly, Airtel has tweaked the postpaid tariff plans for users who want to take advantage of this IR bundle—each is priced ₹50 per month more, compared to the existing plans without the bundle. For instance, users will be upgraded from the ₹449 plan to the ₹499 plan, or from the ₹1,199 plan to the ₹1,249 plan.

In case of family packs, regular travellers will draw considerable benefit considering every member of those bill plans can enable an IR plan once a year, for an additional ₹600 per year paid for the base postpaid plan. The same is true for the entry-spec individual plan, where the IR pack value will be significantly higher than the comparative cost difference between the old and new tariff options.

“Postpaid for us is about delivering the best-in-class experience in the Indian market. We have the best network experience in the country, on which we offer our postpaid customers Fast Lane technology on 5G, and constant Spam and fraud protection,” says Amit Tripathi, Director – Market Operations, Bharti Airtel.

“What is more, we offer the customers the best value –through access to entertainment and services that enrich their everyday lives; and now Free International Roaming for them. We are determined to constantly raising the game for customers and give them more and more reasons to choose Airtel Postpaid.”

Interestingly, Airtel already has a ₹4,999 hybrid prepaid recharge that includes 2.5GB data per day and unlimited calls while in India, and a 7GB high-speed data bundle as well as 100 minutes of incoming and outgoing calls while on international roaming as well as 200 outgoing SMS free, in a 365-days validity.

Vi’s international roaming bundle, and a spark

Earlier this month, Vi said they’ll ‘disrupt travel with free international roaming’. A corollary to that, “offering savings of up to Rs. 9000 per year”, across their prepaid and postpaid plans—basically, you can get one or more free international roaming packs through the year. Their pitch scoped certain prepaid recharge options as well.

The most inexpensive among the 365-days validity plans with the IR bundle is priced at ₹3,599 with 2GB per day along with weekend data rollover and unlimited data for half a day—the international roaming benefit is 1GB for 5 Days along with 50 mins outgoing and incoming calls. It is a similar bundle with the ₹3,699 and also the more expensive ₹3,999 recharge pack (base specifics across the three plans are similar, but there are some additional streaming subscriptions leading to differential pricing).

The ₹4,099 and the ₹4,999 annual recharge packs offer the benefit of 5GB for 5 Days along with 50 mins outgoing and incoming calls. For all prepaid plans, the 5-day validity international roaming pack can be activated once in 365 days.

In postpaid, the Vi Max 501 UL bundles any one free international roaming pack in a year, while the Vi Max 601 UL gets two international roaming packs in this duration. Vi’s flagship RedX 1251 plan includes three international roaming packs in a year, specifically worth ₹2,999 for 7 days. The Vi Max Family 801 UL, Vi Max Family 971 UL plans that can have up to two postpaid SIMs (primary plus one more member), the Vi Max Family 1401 UL with total 5 SIMs (primary plus four free members), each gets every individual member in these bill plans one international roaming plan every year.

Incidentally, the RedX Family 1601 plan which can have a primary member with two additional members, only offers the International roaming pack worth ₹2,999 for 7 days only to the primary member, while other users on the same bill plan get a 25% discount.

Vi’s default IR packs for postpaid users are available for 7 days validity (prices start ₹2,649), 10 days ( ₹2,999 onwards), 14 days ( ₹3,599 onwards), 21 days ( ₹3,799 onwards) and 30 days ( ₹3,999 onwards) with multiple options based on bundled data and voice call specifics.

Reliance Jio hasn’t responded to Vi’s IR bundling, but may now look to weave IR into its own postpaid plans to compete with broader industry moves.