JioGigaFiber impact: Airtel does away with FUP limits to offer unlimited broadband data in select circles

With no FUP limits, Airtel broadband users can access unlimited high-speed data. The updated broadband plans are available in select areas.

Airtel starts to counter Reliance Jio’s upcoming JioGigaFiber broadband services. (Pradeep Gaur/Mint)

Shortly after Reliance Jio announced its high-speed optical fibre-based JioGigaFiber broadband service, rival Airtel has begun making efforts to prevent exodus of its broadband subscribers — the company has now started to remove FUP (fair usage policy) on some of its broadband plans.

The removal of FUP limit means unlimited data. Currently, most of the telecom operators provide 'unlimited' data to users but come with a certain cap, beyond which speed is throttled to 512Kbps.

Airtel's unlimited broadband plans are currently available in Hyderabad circle on all data plans it offers, reports GadgetsNDTV via TelecomTalk. These plans include ₹349, ₹449, ₹699, and ₹1,299.

Note that these plans offer different maximum speeds. Also, the unlimited data means sacrifice other freebies from Airtel. For instance, these plans don't entail free Amazon Prime subscription, data roll over and bonus data.

Just like Reliance Jio, Airtel's unlimited plans also make sure that the unlimited plans are not used for commercial use. The company says the unlimited plans are available in select cities for "non-commercial usage", and that commercial usage is defined as "usage above 3TB per month".

Earlier, Reliance Jio announced the launch of JioGigaFiber broadband services in the country. Just like its mobile telephone services, JioGigaFiber data plans are expected to be aggressively priced. The company is promising up to 1Gb of internet speeds and is offering a range of smart home accessories.

Airtel also offers optical fibre-based broadband services but with speeds up to 300Mbps. Some smaller players like Spectra too offer data speeds up to 1Gbps in select areas.