Jio to continue disruptive tariffs for data, free voice calls post Mar 17

Nominal charges for data with free voice calls will help Jio retain it's subscribers

Reliance Jio users have been enjoying company's free data and calls offer, which is valid till March 2017. And it seems like the party is not getting over anytime soon. 

As reported in the Economic Times, Reliance Jio -- owned by business tycoon Mukesh Ambani -- is mulling over a new tariff plan under which the subscribers will continue to experience Jio's high-speed 4G data at nominal rates and free VoLTE calls for another three month i.e. till June 2017, post the expiry of new year offer that is valid till March 2017. 

Reliance Jio has acquired a mammoth subscriber base of 72 million, which is a major achievement considering the fact that the Jio services were launched 4 months back i.e. in September 2016. But, the analysts believe that Jio is still not the primary connection for majority of these subscribers and the company may lose a huge share of its subscribers once the normal tariffs will come into play. 

“We expect many will go back to using their primary number if the (free) offer is withdrawn, and Jio could well lose over half its subscribers if it starts charging more without fixing the call drop problem,” said Chris Lane, a senior analyst at US brokerage, Bernstein. 

Offering a nominal price for data - lower than what it had announced in September -with voice free may prevent a sharp drop in customers, and the operator can still start its payment cycles, said analysts.  

Thus, the nominal charges for 4G data with free voice calls will help Jio to retain it's subscriber base to a larger extent.