BSNL says ‘no blackout days’ for 2021, no extra calling charges on festivals for users

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has decided to do without the blackout days for the year 2021. This is the third consecutive year for the state run company to get rid of the blackout days. Previously the company had not imposed the blackout day charges in the year 2019 and 2020 on its customers. For the readers who are unaware, the blackout days are the days of festivals and important occasions like Diwali, Holi and New Year on which the telecom companies charge all their customers with standard calling and message charges regardless of the special tariffs active on their numbers.

The telecom companies used to resort to the blackout days technique to shore up their revenue. However, everything changed after the entry of telecom giant Reliance Jio which disbanded this practice for its customers forcing its rival companies to do the same. BSNL which has been facing the situation of ailing finances decided to get rid of the revenue generated on the Blackout days to remain in the competition with its rival competitors. While BSNL has already announced that it would not impose the blackout day charges on its customers for the year 2021, other competitors of Reliance Jio-Airtel and Vodafone Idea– have not decided on the issue and have not made any announcement so far.

However, both the companies also seem to have gotten rid of the blackout days policy and are not expected to revert back to the old policy. The state run company while announcing the decision said that the decision was taken by the management of the company in order to remain competitive in the market. Among other major plans, the company is trying to launch its 4G services which has been stuck for the past several years. The company hopes to come on its own after the launch of the 4G service and provide stiff competition to the dominant market players.