As if it is not enough to run free offers for 6 months, Reliance Jio is considering extending it free offer until 30 June 2016.
The current offer from Jio, the ‘Happy New Year Offer’ will expire on 31 March 2017, post which it has planned to charge for its 4G services and had also announced its lucrative 4G tariff plans too. However, it looks like Reliance Jio needs some more time for optimizing its network, sorting out call failures, and improving its coverage and capacity.
Mukesh Ambani recently announced another investment of Rs. 30,000 crores into Reliance Jio, which would take the total capital invested in Jio to Rs. 2,01,000 crores.
Technically, any telecom operator cannot extend a promotional offer beyond 90 days so Jio would announce a new offer before the expiry of ‘Happy New Year Offer. This new offer would be valid from 1 April to 30 June 2017 and would cost Rs. 100 for data while voice will remain free.
This New Offer Would Be Like An Acid Test For Jio
It is always easy to attract people to try out your products for free, but the real achievement is when the users would want to pay for your services. So this new offer which would hopefully be announced soon would act as an acid test for Reliance Jio.
The test would not only give an indication about the stickiness of Jio customers but would also paint a clear picture as to why 72.4 million subscribers are using its services. Are they only there for enjoying the free services, or do they really like them?
In its quarterly results, Reliance Industries had disclosed that Jio’s current debt is Rs. 49,000 crores plus the deferred spectrum payment liability of Rs. 21,000 to the government.
Other Telcos Are Putting Up A Stronger Defense Against Jio
Even though Jio’s tariff plans are the best-in-class offering huge amount of data plus the free voice calls, the incumbents are also launching new tariff plans to stay in the game.
Given the fact that Jio’s generous data benefits might poach the subscribers of existing telecom operators, Vodafone India was the first to react by launchings its truly unlimited data pack offering unrestricted 3G/4G internet @ Rs. 16 per hour under the SuperHour pack. Vodafone also announced unlimited voice calls @ Rs. 7/hour to any Vodafone number.
Now, following Vodafone’s suit, Idea Cellular has also announced similar unlimited hourly data pack offering 3G/4G internet access at Rs. 22/hour. Airtel is also expected to announce a similar pack soon.
When all these competitively priced data/voice plans are available, the mobile subscribers will find few reasons to make the shift to Reliance Jio. This, in turn, would force Jio to revise its plans for retaining its competitive edge, which would lead to very affordable 4G packs, at least in the short-run.
If you are an Idea customer, then kindly check the availability of this pack for your number with the customer care before proceeding. Do tell us how much data did you consume using this pack so we can arrive at a very low cost per GB. ;)
