NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, the largest telecom operator in the country, is set to offer free internet to subscribers for the trial as the company looks to convert more visitors into push up revenues and profits of Internet users .

Data is becoming gradually become the cash cow of mobile companies that have long been fighting tough competition in the voice business, where prices are among the lowest in the world and margins are not great.

Airtel has detected an opportunity here, and despite having 210 million customers in its kitty, the company has only 40 million users on the Internet. According to their estimates, 60 million additional users could get on the train data, as they have Internet-capable phones, but do not go anywhere.

This is where you want to step in - limited period offer free trails for popular services like Facebook, Youtube, SnapDeal, Makemytrip and Twitter, along with tutorials. Once the user likes and wants more service, the company offers solutions free land - for example, paying Re 1 for using Facebook or Twitter for a day. This will be done as part of a new initiative - One Touch Internet.

"The launch of One Touch Internet is a simplification of how to use the Internet. The price is intuitive, applications are free for trial and dozens of applications have been cured in an easy to use interface. We believe that each client can be on the Internet, "Airtel CEO India and MD Gopal Vittal told TOI.

The company has been trying to push up the use of data through such initiatives and these include 'Re 1 Entertainment Store', 'myPlan' and Portal 'vernacular Airtel Live.

Gopalan Srinivasan, director (business to consumer), said he expects Internet users and use up through the initiative. "This will bring the number of subscribers who currently have no access to the network, as they feel it is a waste and not worth much, or are worried about the cost."

While the free essays are new to the offer of Airtel is not the only company to offer internet packages free of dirt. Uninor, the Indian wing of Norway's Telenor, charges Rs 50 for an hour's use of Facebook, while pricing Whatsapp day of use for Re 1.

For Airtel, the proportion of data in total revenue has been growing very fast. In the period July-September quarter '14 -15, mobile data contributed 14.5% to revenue of Airtel, up from 9% in the same quarter last fiscal year. In fact, data revenues grew 74% in the quarter.

One of the reasons behind the growth in the use of the data is the increasing proliferation of smartphones in India. The prices for smartphones have declined steadily. Morgan Stanley predicts that data subscribers in India will grow at a CAGR of 25% to 519 million to 210 million FY18 against now.