In a major victory for Reliance Jio, World’s 8th biggest employer: Indian Railways has ditched Airtel. From now on, Jio will be the official service provider for Indian Railways’ 3.78 lakh employees.
This is a big news for Jio, as an account of Indian Railways means a lot – both financially, and branding wise.
At the same time, this is a huge loss for Airtel to lose an account like Indian Railways.
Contents
Indian Railways: Sorry Airtel, We Don’t Need You Anymore
Since last 6 years, Indian Railways have been using Airtel as their official service provider, for which, they paid Airtel Rs 100 crore every year.
This contract with Airtel is expiring on December 31st, and after this date, Railways have decided to terminate their contract with them.
Reliance Jio will be Indian Railways’ newest service provider and cover all 3.5 lakh+ employees.
In a statement, the Railways Board said, “Fresh CUG scheme had since been finalised by RailTel and Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited has been awarded the contract to implement the scheme”
RailTel has been ordered to create fresh CUG schemes, which will be delivered by Jio now, instead of Airtel.
Why Did Railways Decide To Select Jio?
First of all, cost.
As per reports, Indian Railways will save upto 35% of telecom expenditure, by choosing Jio over Airtel.
Besides, Jio agreed to deliver the new Closed User group (CUG) requirements as mentioned by the Railway Board, which Airtel failed to do so.
And lastly, Jio will serve more than 3.5 lakh employee from Railways, compared to Airtel which was serving only 1.95 lakh employees.
An unnamed official from Railways said, “While Airtel is serving around 1.95 lakh railway subscribers, Jio will serve 3.78 lakh personnel of the railways, and because of the increase in the numbers, we are getting a better deal from the service provider. As a result of this, we are likely to reduce our phone bill by around 35%.”
What Are The Plans For Railways’ Employees By Jio?
Effective January 1st, 2019, Reliance Jio will provide 4 main plans to all employees of Indian Railways:
Plan #1:
All senior-most officials of Indian Railways will get this plan, which constitutes 2% of the workforce. For a monthly rental of Rs 125, they can now get 60GB of 4G data.
Plan #2:
All joint secretary level officers of Indian Railways will be eligible for this plan, and they comprise 26% of the workforce. For Rs 99 monthly rental, they can now get 45 GB of data.
Plan #3:
All Group C staff are eligible for this plan, and they constitute 72% of the workforce. For just Rs 67 per month, they can get 30 GB every month.
Plan #4:
Rs 49 per month for unlimited SMSes. Every employee of Indian Railways can choose this additional pack. Besides, for additional data, Railways employee will just need to pay Rs 10 for 2 GB of data.
Unlimited calling is included in the first three plans for Railways’ employees.
There has been no comment from Airtel on this issue.
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.