Since its inception, Jio hit the telecom industry by a storm. By providing free 4G Internet data for a total of six months, Jio managed to spread the mobile data facilities into the rural areas as well. All thanks to Jio, currently India consumes more mobile data than any other country in the world.
But all those who were worried with Jio’s New Year offer of free data coming to an end by the end of March 31, Reliance Industries chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani came out to the press and announced that they will be providing free calls for another year if the customers enroll into “Jio Prime” by paying a meager sum of Rs.99/- and 4G data up to 1GB will be provided at Rs.10/- per day.
This came in as a body blow for most of the telecom industries who were waiting to pounce on Jio post the end of their New Year offer. But by providing closely 30GB per month at Rs.300/- (approximately), they left their compatriots with no choice but to cut down the rates.
Airtel and Vodafone are now offering 28GB data for 28 days to combat their common rival Jio. Vodafone are providing 28GB data at Rs 342 or Rs 346 and the customers who recharge with these plans gets the opportunity to continue with the same offer for the next 11 months.
In a statement to IndianExpress.com, Vodafone had this to say “Vodafone customers are diverse as are their wants. To satisfy these diverse needs and wants, Vodafone offers various segmented propositions. This is one such segmented offering and the offer is valid only till 15 March.”
Coming to Airtel, by paying Rs.345/-, the customers 1GB of 4G data per day for one month and this also includes free local, STD calls. One condition that they have placed in the data usage section is, 500MB of the 1GB data should be consumed during morning hours and the rest 500MB during night.
Just like Vodafone, even Airtel will be providing these offers for the customers who enroll before 31st March and these set of customers will get to use this offer for the next 11 months. Airtel always has had the goodwill of providing the data at a good speed, which might as well have an impact in beating their rivals barring Jio.
Another one of the Airtel offer states that by recharging with Rs.259/-, the users can claim 10GB data per month, which is another offer worth consideration.
Idea Cellular on the other side are providing 500MB per day and unlimited voice calls for 28 days at RS.348/-, which is another reasonable offer. Idea Cellular has many customers under them who didn’t switch to Jio completely, considering the quality of Data and voice calls that they provide.
500MB per day is indeed not a bad offer and all those customers having one foot on each side, might as well consider continuing with Idea solely for the sake of good quality data and voice calls.
Whatever might be the outcomes for all these industries, one thing is certain. This telecom war started by Jio has been the catalyst in spreading Internet services all over the country and it has ensured all the other industries too cut down their rates to attract the users.
