Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio to give incumbent telcos a run for their money

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/10^th 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.