Jio Prime would have been the better deal, if it weren't for Vodafone
History is being created in India as telecom giants start fighting the future, or for the future. Reliance Jio has ushered in an era of ultra-competitiveness in the telecom industry with its low prices and a slew of freebies. And while the free Jio plans have now come to an end, their Prime service is still a powerhouse of a move, allowing their loyal customers to enjoy a host of data plans at a much lower cost.
The Jio Prime subscription, an offer that can only be availed till the end of March, allows users to continue enjoying the 4G data and other bundled services in the Jio Happy New Year Offer at prices that is making the competition nervous.
With packages ranging from Rs 19 to Rs 9,999, the Prime service is a great idea to retain all the customers who switched to Jio for free 4G data. The Rs 49 prepaid recharge, that has a validity of three days, offers all same benefits as the Rs 19 plan except for 600 MB of 4G data. For non-Prime subscribers the data is capped at 300 MB.
All of their pacakages, offer increaingly more benefits to customers under Prime. It would seem that Jio, especially with Prime is the best thing that has happened to mobile customers in India. Or so it would have been.
One of the biggest disadvantages of having such predatory prices is that it will trigger the competition to escalate a price-war from their end as well. And that is exactly what has happened.
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| Photo: Screengrab |
Recently, Airtel announced that it will no longer charge for domestic roaming from April 1, and reduce international roaming charges by up to 90 per cent. Airtel also began offereing data at cheaper rates. In fact, they slashed data rates by almost 80 per cent.
Not wanting to be left out of the game, Idea too has introduced a new pack which offers 14 GB of 4G data along with unlimited calls for Rs 345/month to compete with Jio Prime's Rs 303/ month and Rs 499/month plans, which offer a user 1GB 4G data/day and 2GB 4G data/day respectively.
While Idea already had a similar offer in place, which had unlimited voice calls at Rs 345/month, the 4G data on offer was a measly 1GB/month, Reliance Jio's Prime plans have forced Idea to drastically increase the monthly data cap.
But the winner has come in the form of Vodafone. In the wake of Jio Prime's Rs 303/month offer, which gives a user unlimited calls/SMS + 1GB 4G data/day, Vodafone has launched an explosive new pack which offers the same benefits at Rs 346/month. Where Vodafone pulls ahead of Jio is in the fact that while the latter's offer is only available for Prime customers, the former does not have any such restriction.
And that is where Vodafone's masterstroke lies - inclusiveness. Jio may be letting customers avail great offers under Prime, but for those opting out of that service, the same money gets them paltry data and services. Vodafone, while admittedly being priced higher than Jio - though not by much - has let all customers enjoy these prime services.
At this juncture, it would seem that has the upper hand. And that is completely Jio's doing. An industry that once basked in stagnation thanks to an almost cartel-like structure, now has to up its game to survive a player as ferocious as Mukesh Ambani.