Wednesday, April 24

Telecom War – Reliance Jio Announces Free Voice Calls, Cheaper Data Tariffs

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani today announced free voice calling, zero roaming charges and cheaper data tariffs for Jio customers.

The company also announced “super-affordable” handsets under the LYF brand starting Rs 2999.

Shares of Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel plunged up to 9 per cent today after RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced free voice calling and cheaper data tariffs for Jio customers.

Idea Cellular tanked 9 per cent to Rs 85, its 52-week low on BSE. Shares of Bharti Airtel dropped 8.99 per cent to Rs 302.

Ambani further announced that no Jio customer will ever pay for voice calls to any network in India and there will be zero roaming charges.

Taking ahead the agenda of enabling a ‘Digital Life for Digital India’, Ambani said that the company will further connect 30,000 colleges and schools with WiFi and high speed internet.

Reliance Jio has set a target to bring onboard 100 million customers in the “shortest possible time” as it rolls out its 4G network across the country, RIL chief Mukesh Ambani said today.

“I have always set impossible goals for the Jio team and they have always exceeded my expectations. So today I set a target for team Jio to acquire 100 million customers on the Jio network in the shortest possible time and create a new world record,” he said at RILs 42th Annual General Meeting.

Reliance Jio has already onboarded 1.5 million users on its 4G network, during the test phase. Over the past few weeks, Reliance Jio has been expanding its unlimited calls and high-speed mobile broadband trial offer to 4G smartphone users of brands such as HTC, Intex, Vivo, Gionee, Karbonn and Lava.

R Jio will offer users data services free for four months, after which it will offer 10 tariff plans starting at Rs 19 a day for occasional users, Rs 149 a month for low data users and Rs 4,999 a month for heavy data users.

At the RILs 42th Annual General Meeting, the billionaire industrialist said Jio is targeting 100 million users in a shortest possible time.