Reliance chief Mukesh Ambani, who launched Reliance Jio service on the company’s Annual General Meeting in Mumbai, said that the tariff was based on three factors: data must be affordable, pricing should be simple and the customer should pay for only voice or data. The average data prices would be around Rs 50 per GB, which would be amongst the lowest in the world.
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It added however that users would perceive more value in RJio due to the unlimited offerings and free usage till December 2016, leading to strong demand for its services.
In line with yesterday’s losses, the shares of telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular plunged on Friday ahead the official launch of its rival Reliance Jio on Monday.
“RJio has disrupted industry pricing more than we imagined, with consequences for incumbents likely more hard than we expected”, said George, who trimmed his price target on Bharti Airtel to Rs 290 from Rs 335, and that on Idea Cellular to Rs 85 from Rs 100.
On Friday, Idea Cellular shares hit a new 52-week low of Rs. 81 in early trade but recovered losses to trade at Rs. 81.45, a loss of 2.69 percent, at around 11.26 a.m.
Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani on Thursday, while announcing his firm’s entry into telecom venture, said free voice calls and free national roaming along with rock-bottom data prices are available on its new network.
While welcoming Reliance Jio, he said the COAI will continue to advocate fair competitive practices with an enabling policy and regulatory environment which translates into a win-win for the industry and consumer. The company has announced the cheapest 4G rates, along with unlimited voice calls for users.
It has now been more than six years since the operator’s parent company Reliance Industries re-entered the telecoms market by buying pan-India 4G spectrum.
“Jio is rolling out Wi-Fi hotspots across India”.
Reliance has already begin exploratory talks with the country’s two biggest startups – online retailer Flipkart and ride hailing app Ola – for potential integration of their services with Reliance’s mobile service Jio, four people aware of the development told ET.
“Reliance Jio will move India from data shortage to data abundance”, he said.
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He warned that existing operators will face a lot of pain over the next 12-18 months as there will be “massive disruptions” from Jio’s formal launch.
