Jio follows Voda Idea, Airtel in raising tariff; rates to begin at Rs 199

Following new tariff plans announced by incumbent telecom operators, Reliance Jio has updated its tariff plans, which will be applicable from December 6.

“These plans will provide up to 300 per cent more benefits to Jio customers, upholding the Jio promise of providing best-quality service at the lowest price globally,” said the company in a statement.

The company had already announced that while the new all-in-one plans would be 40 per cent more expensive, they would seek to offer higher subscriber benefits.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea had, on Sunday, announced a tariff hike in the range of 15-40 per cent, across different plans. The tariff hike by both operators came into effect on December 3.

“Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have announced a sub-25 per cent tariff hike for plans of Rs 349 and below, which cover close to 60 per cent of subscribers. We believe the average impact on average revenue per user, or ARPU, would be 25-30 per cent on account of the tariff hike. While it was anticipated that TRAI would float a consultation paper to do so, the incumbents announced tariff hikes without any assistance from the regulator,” noted Shashi Bhushan, executive director (IT and Telecom) at Axis Capital, following the tariff hikes reported by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

Analysts see the tariff hike as much-needed financial cushion for incumbents. Since there has been no assistance from the regulator, this trend is expected to continue, with at least one more round of hike needed to stabilise Vodafone Idea’s finances.

Jio’s new tariff plans have been kept at a differential of Rs 50 from most of the incumbents’ tariff plans, effectively keeping Jio’s plans almost 25 per cent cheaper. However, analysts note that going forward, service quality and content offering will be the differentiators for operators.