Reliance Jio announces range of postpaid plans to take on rivals

Reliance Jio, India's largest mobile service provider, on Tuesday announced a range of postpaid plans, including many firsts such as in-flight mobile connectivity, to make a dent in its rivals' businesses.

Jio, which began operations in 2016, has emerged the largest operator due to aggressive marketing and attractive low cost plans. However, less than 1 per cent of its 398 million plus subscribers are in the postpaid segment. 

In contrast, Airtel and Vi ( Vodafone Idea) have 5.2 and 7.2 per cent of their customers in the postpaid category. Postpaid services offer on an average three times higher average revenue per user (ARPU) for telecom companies and Jio's new strategy will enable it to target higher growth. 

In the June quarter, Airtel had the highest ARPU among telecom companies of Rs 157 followed by Jio (Rs 140).

"JioPostpaid Plus has been intricately designed keeping in mind the needs of every postpaid customer. It takes into account the need for dependable and high-quality connectivity, limitless premium entertainment, seamless and affordable international roaming, cutting-edge innovative features and most importantly the customer experience," Akash Ambani, director, Jio, said in a statement.

Jio's plans range from Rs 399 to Rs 1,499 offering 75-300 GB data to users. While Airtel's corporate plan offers upto 500 GB data, Jio scores over its rivals in its OTT and entertainment apps offering.

In a first for an Indian operator, Jio will also offer inflight mobile packs of Rs 499 and Rs 999 for data, voice calls and SMSes. A company executive said it was in discussions with various airlines and had not finalised any airline partner Similarly, Jio is yet to take a call on offering inflight mobile service within the Indian airspace.

The company will also be offering free international roaming service in the US and UAE, and international wifi calls to India for one rupee.

Company	Total mobile subscribers (in mn)	Post paid users ( in %)
Jio	398.3	Less than one per cent
Airtel	279.8	5.2
Vodafone	279.8	7.2