More good news for mobile users: Reliance Jio launches new monthly tariff plans starting at Rs 149

Reliance Jio has introduced more monthly tariff plans starting at Rs 149, ostensibly to capture the lower-end of the telecom user market, which could find its flagship tariff plans out of reach.

The new giant in the Indian telecom space has also introduced other tariff plans starting from as low as Rs 19 for one-day validity, and going up to Rs 9,999 for a year. Most plans on offer are available for both, prime and non-prime customers, but the prime customers will get more benefits, mainly in terms of data usage limits. A user can subscribe to Reliance Jio’s prime membership at a payment of Rs 99, before the end of March.

Earlier last month, Reliance Jio said it will start charging money from consumers for using its mobile telephony services, which it was offering so far for free. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani had said that Reliance Jio will offer its “prime” customers 1GB data per day with unlimited voice calls for Rs 303 per month, on a one-time payment of Rs 99. By comparison, tariff plans of rival incumbent operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular offer about 1-2 GB data per month with unlimited voice calling for about Rs 340-350.

Following Reliance Jio’s lead, India’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel also announced scrapping national roaming charges and introduced an automatic facility to prevent users from steep roaming charges on international networks, effective from April 1 this year. India will be a country with the lowest tariffs in the world, CNBC TV18 reported citing Sunil Mittal.

Reliance Jio’s entry into the telecom space has forced the incumbent players to drastically cut tariffs – as much as by 66% – in order to retain their customer base, and has put the entire sector under tremendous pressure of choosing between protecting margins and user base.

Reliance Jio, which launched its services on September 8 last year, has been providing data and voice telephony services for free under various promotional schemes. It extended its inaugural free voice and data plan till March 31, drawing complaints and criticisms from its biggest rivals Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, who assert that its anti-competitive practices and freebies are hurting the industry.

Reliance Jio has already got 100 million users in just 170 days of launching the operations – not a mean feat to achieve in less than six months.