Airtel & Idea Slash Mobile Data Prices by Nearly 50% to Counter Reliance Jio

Reliance Jio is here, and the hype it has created, since its unveiling last year, is phenomenal to say the least. Not only are the tariff plans very wallet-friendly, but also offer great service and speeds.

Even though the official commercial Jio launch is a month away, other telecom majors have started feeling the heat already. Airtel and Idea have slashed their prepaid tariffs by around 50% on an average, which makes us wonder how these companies have been looting us.

Both the companies have been trying hard to retain customers by offering night packs and discounts on data plans, and now they seem to have finally offered permanent discounts to their customers. Reliance Jio is offering high volumes of 4G LTE data for the first initial months and cheap call rates to disrupt the telco market.

Airtel and Idea revised tariff plans

Very smartly, Idea has not reduced the tariff amounts, but increased the data quota for users. So the Idea consumers will get more data for the same price, increasing the value for money proposition.

For example, a 3-day plan that cost Rs. 19 and offered 75MB 2G data will now offer 110MB of 2G data, while a 3-day plan that cost Rs. 22 and offered 65MB 3G/4G data will now offer 90MB data. The same is applicable for the whole range of data packs starting from Rs. 8 and going upto Rs. 225.

Airtel, on the other hand, has also bumped up with data limits. The Rs 989 3G/4G pack will now offer 10GB data as opposed to 6.5GB earlier, the Rs 755 3G/4G monthly recharge pack will now offer 6GB data, 4GB more than its previous limit, and the Rs 455 3G/4G pack will now offer 3GB, instead of 2GB.

The smaller packs have also been revised and offer 40% more data as compared to pre-revision phase and the new tariff plans are available on Airtel’s website.

Here are Airtel Revised Plans

New Monthly Packs

Pack Type	MRP (Rs)	Current Data Benefit	New Data Benefit	Validity	% Increase
4G/3G	455	2 GB	3 GB	28 days	50%
4G/3G	655	3 GB	5GB	28 days	67%
4G/3G	755	4 GB	6GB	28 days	50%
4G/3G	855	5 GB	7 GB	28 days	40%
4G/3G	989	6.5 GB	10 GB	28 days	54%

New Sachet Packs

Pack Type	MRP (Rs)	Current Data Benefit	New Data Benefit	Validity	% Increase
4G/3G	5	15 MB	20 MB	1 day	32%
4G/3G	23	70 MB	90 MB	3 days	29%
4G/3G	53	160 MB	200 MB	5 days	25%
4G/3G	145	440 MB	580 MB	14 days	32%
2G	5	20 MB	30 MB	1 day	48%
2G	25	100 MB	145 MB	3 days	45%

Have these telco majors been fleecing us all this time?

A new competitor enters the market and the existing prices reduce, isn’t this a tad too familiar with India?

We have seen this happening in almost all industries, be it automobiles, smartphones and even consumer durables like televisions and smartwatches. In fact, even cab-aggregators have joined this race to offer the best value to its customers.

However, the telecom industry should be watched more closely because it has already received a lot of flak from the consumers for poor service and expensive offers on tiny data plans.

Before the Chinese smartphone makers entered India, the consumers were unaware of the fact that inexpensive smartphones can also be equally rewarding and good to use. This led to creation of a whole new segment, but leaders like Samsung, LG and Apple did not reduce the prices of their flagship smartphones.

Sadly, the same cannot be translated to the telecom sector. The prices are extremely high for a daily user and speeds are not upto the mark. More than half the country doesn’t even have 4G, while the world is planning to move towards 5G. Shouldn’t the Government regulate this industry like the cab-aggregation market and focus on less trivial topics?

Truth of life is that we will continue to receive such sub-standard service for telecom majors, unless the Government interferes and supports TRAI in its mission to equip all Indians with basic internet necessities.