The Reliance Jio vs Airtel contest has reached its next leg, with the latter now dishing out free digital content subscription to its existing prepaid and postpaid users till June 2018.
Airtel claims that the Airtel TV app, available to both Android as well iOS users, offers 300 live TV channels, out of which 29 are available in HD. The app supports over 15 languages, including Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, and Marathi.
The free content includes over 6,000 movie titles, the telecom operator, which is finally showing its intent to compete with Jio in the digital content arena, claimed.
In order to avail the free content, Airtel users need to download the Airtel TV app on their phones. The telco also claims to have made numerous changes and improvements from the previous version of the app.
And Then There’s Jio
The free subscription to Jio apps like Jio Cinema and Jio Music will end on 31 December, but the telcom company has already updated its new plans for 2018, offering free access to its content.
Also Read: App Battle: Reliance Jio’s Music & Cinema vs Idea Music & Movie
While Airtel has entered this space, Jio has made big inroads in the content segment, offering live channels via its JioPhone on old-fashioned televisions. Keeping this in mind, Airtel has a long way to go before matching up with its closest rival.
Also Read: Reliance Jio Brings JioTV to Your Desktop, Get Over 200 Channels
If it weren’t for some technical issues, Jio could have even extended its live TV service to desktop users via Jiotv.com, but we’re sure to hear more on that in the coming weeks. Idea Cellular tried something in this space, but the company ended up charging users Rs 49 per month to access its content.
With the mobile network space now more or less getting consolidated, it’s time for operators to turn themselves into content providers, and build a catalogue for its user base that helps them retain or get new users onboard.
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