Reliance Jio: Game Changer of Indian Telecom by Mukesh Ambani

From September 5, the much-awaited Reliance Jio will be launched for public subscription, and its parent company Reliance Industries Ltd’s chairman Mukesh Ambani, promised that the services will remain free until December 31, as part of its introductory offer.

MUMBAI: According to the company's own statements, Reliance Jio offers the lowest data tariffs in the world at less than a dollar per gigabyte, compared with an average $3.5 per GB currently offered by other telecom operators in the country. But a closer look reveals that Jio’s data plans — given the information offered so far by the company — do not deviate significantly from what operators are currently offering.

For example, on a base plan of Rs 149, which would be valid for 28 days, a user would get 0.3 GB 4G-LTE data along with unlimited voice calls. However, on depletion of the quota, a user would have to buy a top-up plan. This is considering that Jio has not announced any pay-as-you-go plan for data, if a user ends up consuming the quota before the validity ends. Compared with this, Airtel offers 0.5 GB 4G data with a 28-day validity for Rs 148 in the Delhi circle, and Vodafone India offers 0.5 GB at Rs 147 with a 28-day validity. However, Reliance Jio’s plans also include unlimited local and national voice calling, which the company said would remain free even beyond the introductory offer period.

In costlier plans, the companies offering 4G offer similar amount of mobile internet compared to Jio. For example, Airtel, Vodafone and Jio offer 10 GB of 4G-LTE data for a sum of Rs 999, with a 28 day validity.

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