BSNL's Bharat Fiber FTTH service launched: Plans, bookings and more
What's the story
Taking on Reliance's Jio GigaFiber and Airtel's V-Fiber, state-owned BSNL has launched its own Bharat Fiber service in India.
The high-speed, fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service will offer speeds of upto 100Mbps and cost as low as Rs. 1.1 per GB.
Notably, the telco has started accepting bookings for Bharat Fiber via its online portal.
Here's more about the service, its plans, and the competition.
An overview
Firstly, what is Bharat Fiber?
Bharat Fiber is a Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) service designed to offer high-speed internet over a fiber optic cable network.
According to BSNL, the service will offer "broadband from 256 Kbps to 100 Mbps" and support "IPTV having different type of contents like HDTV, 3D TV and range of voice telephony services".
For now, Bharat Fiber will be available in 18 Indian states.
Process
How to get started with Bharat Fiber?
After you've booked a connection and it gets approved, you'll have to pay Rs. 500 as a refundable security deposit for the installation of ONT.
Optical Network Termination (ONT) is basically customer-required equipment needed to bring fiber connection from BSNL's Central Office (CO) to customer's premises.
Further, you'll be charged Rs. 90 as monthly rental charges for the ONT while installation/activation will be free.
Monthly plans
BSNL has also listed exclusive plans for Bharat Fiber
BSNL is currently offering six exclusive monthly plans for its FTTH service.
The base-end Rs. 777 plan offers upto 50Mbps of speed till 500GB and 2Mbps after the data limit is exhausted.
The Rs. 1,277 plan offers upto 100Mbps till 750GB and 2Mbps after FUP limit.
The most-expensive plan worth Rs. 16,999 offers 100Mbps speed till 3,500GB and 10Mbps after FUP limit.
Coming soon
Reliance Jio GigaFiber: The competition to Bharat Fiber
Reliance is also working to commercially launch its Jio GigaFiber FTTH service sometime in March this year.
Reliance's service, to initially be rolled out in 1,100 cities, will also offer an all-in-one solution for broadband, IPTV, landline, and smart home connectivity.
Currently, the company is offering test users a free preview offer with 100GB of data at upto 100Mbps for 90 days.