Internet Service Provider ACT Fibernet has updated download speeds and monthly usage limits in Chennai, Delhi and Bangalore circle, with the following changes:

Higher speeds for some plans : In some plans, ACT has introduced 150 and 200 Mbps speeds. Its highest speeds for home users earlier used to be 100 Mbps.

: In some plans, ACT has introduced 150 and 200 Mbps speeds. Its highest speeds for home users earlier used to be 100 Mbps. Increased data usage before users hit their FUP

Counting upload and download usage separately: This means that if your ACT connection provides 100 GB of data, then 50GB is meant for download usage while the rest 50 GB is for upload. So from now on, your data usage will be populated separately by ACT as seen below:



Nikhil adds: The increase in FUP doesn’t appear to be substantive. Historically, users have downloaded more than they have uploaded, which is why many ISPs apportion greater speeds to download as opposed to uploading. So, for example, for the Retail ACT Silver plan in Delhi (see chart below), users might be getting a cumulative 500 GB for Rs 1499, while they were getting only 200 GB earlier, the forced split between upload and download means, that if someone uses 500 GB for the month, they’ll have some data usage left over in terms of upload, and would have maxed out on download usage and hit the 250 GB FUP pretty quickly. Meanwhile, ACT can market the fact that they’re offering 500 GB till FUP, saying “conditions apply”.

Updated plans in Delhi



Updated Plans in Chennai We are yet to receive a full list of updated plans in Bangalore, but a spokesperson from ACT confirmed to MediaNama that Bangalore users received an update yesterday. My ACT Incredible package that’s used to provide 250GB of data, now gives me 350 GB of data at the same rate of Rs 1,999.

Why ACT is updating speeds and FUP

The company did not provide a reason why it is updating plans, but ACT does this periodically for all cities. The current updated could be influenced by the fact that more users are coming online after Jio’s freebies, and existing users are consuming more data than before. So, free data in the cellular ecosystem could have influenced ISP segment also. Airtel, Idea and Vodafone have reported an upward growth in data usage since Jio’s launch. During the quarter ended June 2017, all three telco’s data usage within their network had grown two fold on a quarter-on-quarter basis. A similar shift might be seen in ISPs, with more users depleting their FUP limits, forcing ACT to increase speeds and data usage limits.

Competition

India’s wired broadband sector is picking up some pace following the launch of Reliance Jio, and especially after the Indian govt allocated Rs 10,000 crore from the 2017-18 budget for deploying high-speed fiber connectivity at villages under BharatNet. In March, Vodafone received FIPB approval for acquiring 100% stake in ACT’s rival operate YOU Broadband. Rival telcos including Airtel has been expanding its newly launched fiber-based connection across new cities, while Jio is expected to come out with its own set of fiber-to-home service.