Airtel Rs. 249 Entry-Level Prepaid Plan Pulled After Jio Move; Check Out New Cheapest Alternative

Bharti Airtel has joined Jio in discontinuing its popular Rs. 249 prepaid plan to shake up the entry-level segment of India's telecom market. Just a day after Jio removed its Rs. 249 base plan, Airtel also pulled its similar plan from its official website and app. The Rs. 249 Airtel plan offered 1GB of data per day, unlimited local, STD, and roaming calls, and 100 SMS per day, along with additional perks like an Airtel Xstream subscription, 30-day HelloTunes, and live spam alerts, all for 24 days of validity.

Alternative to the Rs. 249 plan in Airtel & Jio

Since the Rs. 249 plan has now been discontinued, Airtel users now looking for affordable prepaid options will have to consider the Rs. 299 plan, which is the cheapest option available currently. This plan offers 1GB of data per day, 100 SMS per day, unlimited calling, an Airtel Xstream subscription, HelloTunes for 30 days, live spam alerts, and a slightly longer validity of 28 days. Recently Airtel also announced a Perplexity Pro subscription for its users and a six-month free Apple Music subscription.

Similarly for the Jio user, now the cheapest available recharge option is Rs. 299, which offers 1.5GB data per day with 28-day validity. Meanwhile, Jio's unlimited 5G plans start at Rs. 349.

Market Implications: Airtel Share Price Today

Since both Jio and Airtel have revised their entry-level offerings, the competition in the prepaid telecom market is intensifying. This decision will now push subscribers toward Rs. 299 and above plans, making mid-tier and 5G plans more attractive, while it is going to be the end of ultra-cheap daily data packs. After the news broke, Airtel shares started trading in green and jumped as much as 2% intraday. By the end of today's trading, Bharti Airtel shares were 1.06% higher at Rs. 1,930 apiece on the NSE.

Bharti Airtel Q1FY26 Results

Bharti Airtel on August 6th reported its earnings for the first quarter of FY26. The company's total revenue for Q1FY26 rose to Rs. 49,463 crore, up 28.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Airtel's operating profits also stayed healthy. EBITDA reached Rs. 28,167 crore, maintaining a strong margin of 56.9%.

Airtel's profit before tax nearly doubled from last year to Rs. 10,504 crore, up 8% from the previous quarter.