Mukesh Ambani
has pulled off the biggest coup ever in the telecom sector in India with its
launch of Reliance Jio giving brother Anil Ambani (Reliance communications),
Airtel, idea and Vodafone a run for
their money. With an estimated investment of USD 20 billions (roughly Rs 13400
crores), the ambitious Jio project could make Reliance the most comprehensive
provider of telecom and internet services across India.
Key
points
1
|
Free voice
calls
|
2
|
Zero roaming
charges
|
3
|
45 plans at
Rs.50 per GB
|
4
|
Students to
get 25% more data
|
5
|
Free data
services for the first four months after the launch
|
6
|
10 tariff
plans starting at Rs 19 a day for occasional users
|
7
|
Rs 149 a
month for light users, Rs 4,999 a month for heavy data users
|
8
|
To achieve
100 million customers in record time
|
9
|
"Super-affordable”
handsets under the LYF brand starting at Rs 2999.
|
10
|
To be
formally launched on September 5
|
On a closer
introspection offering of free voice call appears to be a marketing gimmick. Voice
calls appear to be routed through a technology known as VoLTE which will take a
toll on your data charges. In other
words exhaustion of your data plan will also limit your ability to make voice
calls.
Having said
that Jio’s offer of cheaper data plans that cost one/10th of the rate
offered by competitors make a compelling reason to switch to R-Jio plans. More
clarity on quality of services, nation wide coverage etc remain to be seen.
