TL; DR
- Free roaming arrives, and so does a ₹50 increase.
- One trip a year, one pack per SIM, one price rise.
- Airtel answers VI, with a smaller offer and a higher bill.
Airtel has gone after the one telecom bill that nobody likes: roaming abroad. To our surprise, it includes one free trip each year. However, as with most free things, the real catch lies in the fine print. Spoiler alert: there’s a big one.
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New Plans From October 8, And What The Hike Costs You
The revised postpaid plans take effect on October 8, 2026. In fact, each is ₹50 more expensive than before, based on a plan-by-plan comparison. Existing postpaid customers will be moved to the nearest higher-priced plan within a month, according to recent reports. Both new and existing customers will switch using the Airtel app or a store.
| Plan | SIMs | New price | Old price |
| Individual | 1 | ₹499 | ₹449 |
| Family | 2 | ₹749 | ₹699 |
| Family | 3 | ₹1,049 | ₹999 |
| Family | 4 | ₹1,249 | ₹1,199 |
| Family | 4 | ₹1,449 | ₹1,399 |
| Family | 5 | ₹1,799 | ₹1,749 |
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One Free Trip, Five Days Long, And Every SIM Gets Its Own
The good part is that each SIM gets one free roaming trip a year. So, a five-member family gets five free trips per year. As part of the bundle, users get 5GB of data, an hour of calls, 25 outgoing texts (yes, that’s a very real limit), and free incoming texts for five days. Another good thing is that you can choose when the plan’s validity or quota starts.
An Airtel official valued it at ₹2,000. Unlimited data and calling, spam protection, and bundled subscriptions carry over, from Xstream Play Premium and Google One at ₹499 to Netflix and Amazon Prime higher up. My arithmetic: ₹50 extra a month is ₹600 a year per plan, which beats that ₹2,000 valuation only if you actually travel.
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| Operator | Roaming offer | Postpaid starts at |
| Airtel | One trip a year per SIM, five-day pack | ₹499 |
| Vodafone Idea | Up to three trips a year on eligible plans, 170+ countries | ₹501 |
| Jio | Separate packs and PayGo, no free trip | Not applicable |
Vi promises up to three trips, so for frequent flyers, Airtel’s single five-day pack looks thin. Everyone else is simply paying more.
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