Airtel confirmed on Wednesday it will be introducing an independent data pack for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services. On Friday, the telco unveiled the pricing of its first VoIP data pack for prepaid users, and said similar plans for postpaid users are coming soon.

The telecom operator said the prepaid VoIP data pack, which will soon be launched, will cost Rs. 75 for 75MB with a validity of 28 days, and estimated that this will allow customers to make between 200 and 250 minutes of Internet calls. At that rate, it would cost Rs. 1,000 for 1GB of VoIP data.

It is surprising that Airtel, the largest telecom operator in India in terms of subscribers, has gone ahead with this move despite all the debate raised on the issue ever since it first announced its plans, which even led to the Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to say the government will look into the issue.

"We will look into it. Government will come back with structured response," Prasad had said on the sidelines of 'Good Governance Day' event on Thursday organised by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology.

Airtel was quick to specify that its plans for VoIP will not be rolled out with immediate effect, but will be implemented in a phased manner over the next few weeks. It added customers will be informed in advance about the changes.



You can read the entire statement from Airtel below, which describes the reasons for rolling out the controversial new VoIP data pack that raises the question of the future of net neutrality in India. Briefly, Airtel believes its investments to roll out voice and data services in India will not see sufficient returns if VoIP services continue to proliferate - to alleviate the issue, it is charging for these services over and above regular data.