Mumbai: Airtel recently discontinued its low-value postpaid plans to focus on increasing the ARPU with Infinity plans of Rs 499 and higher. It removed the Rs 249 and Rs 399 plans from its website and MyAirtel app, leaving the subscribers furious, who were forced to shell out at least Rs 100 more for the base plan of Rs 499. Airtel is now relaunching the Rs 399 postpaid plan along with introducing one that costs Rs 349, both available only in select circles.

The Airtel postpaid subscribers in Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Delhi – NCR will be able to subscribe to the Rs 349 and Rs 399 plans. Airtel is offering the same benefits under the Rs 399 postpaid plan as it used to before getting discontinued earlier. The subscriber gets 40GB of monthly data with rollover facility, unlimited local and STD calls, and 100 SMS per day.

The other plan at Rs 349 is a new addition to the umbrella. It comes with very less amount of data, just 5GB, along with unlimited calls and 100 SMS per day for a monthly cycle. The subscriber also gets the data rollover facility with this plan. Its availability is restricted to the circles mentioned above. It can be subscribed after the customer discontinues the existing plan and re-subscribe to Rs 349 plan.

Airtel has been seeing in a plummet in the user base ever since it increased the prices of its prepaid and postpaid plans. But that s only a minor reason behind the migration. Its closest rival Reliance Jio wrested the market from Suni Bharti-led telco by populating the low-value market with number of plans. The constant onslaught by Jio compelled Airtel and Vodafone Idea to concentrate on revenue generation, sidelining the plans to acquire a competitive customer base. Airtel sprawled left, right, and centre by doling out benefits to the customers who have loyally been paying, turning around the company s business.