Jio Increases Prepaid Plan Prices

Jio Increases Prepaid Plan Prices by Up to 40 Percent

Reliance Jio is following in the footsteps of Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel by announcing a hike in its prepaid plans. The Mumbai-based telco has revealed that it is set to launch its new 'All-in-One' prepaid plans that will be priced up to 40 percent higher. These new Jio plans will come into effect starting Friday, December 6. However, the denominations at which the new prepaid plans will be available are yet to be announced. This is unlike Vodafone Idea and Airtel that both detailed their revised prepaid plans on Sunday.

Through a press statement, Reliance Jio claimed that while the new All-in-One prepaid plans will be priced up to 40 percent higher, they'll deliver up to 300 percent more benefits. The telco also said that it is determined to "benefit Indian consumers and take measures including [an] appropriate increase in tariffs in a manner that does not adversely impact data consumption or growth in digital adoption and sustains investments."

"While remaining committed to the ultimate interest of the consumer, Jio will take all necessary steps to help sustain the Indian telecommunications industry," the company said in the statement.

To recall, Jio initially launched its Rs. 222, Rs. 333, and Rs. 444 All-in-One prepaid plans in October to offer offnet Interconnect Usage Charge (IUC) minutes for making voice calls to non-Jio networks. The operator at that time also claimed that the new plans are 20 to 50 percent cheaper than the existing plans from the competition. Further, a Rs. 149 Jio prepaid plan recently received an update with 300 minutes for non-Jio voice calling but with a reduced validity from 28 days to 24 days. Jio added the revised Rs. 149 offering to its All-in-One plans portfolio.

Last month, Jio followed Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel to announce its move to increase tariffs. The latter two operators notably reported combined losses of Rs. 74,000 crores in the quarter ending September 2019. The operator led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, however, in October posted its eighth profitable quarter in a row and announced that its profit rose to Rs. 990 crore from Rs. 681 crores a year ago -- an year-over-year (YoY) increase of 45 percent. Its subscriber base also hit the mark of 355.2 million subscribers -- up significantly from a base of 331.3 million subscribers announced in the earnings for the quarter ended June 30.

Vodafone Idea on Sunday announced its revised prepaid tariffs that will come into effect from Tuesday, December 3. The updated Vodafone plans will be available between Rs. 149 and Rs. 2,399. Further, the telco has also brought an unlimited prepaid plan at Rs. 19 to offer benefits such as unlimited voice calling on Vodafone Idea network and 150MB data for two days.

Similarly, Airtel on Sunday announced its revised tariff plans that will be applicable starting Tuesday. The revised Airtel plans start from Rs. 19 and goes up to Rs. 1,699. The operator claimed that the new plans represent a tariff increase in the range of 50 paise per day to Rs. 2.85 per day.