Jio shakes the market with free voice calls, cheap data

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

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani yesterday announced free voice calling, zero roaming charges and cheaper data tariffs for Jio customers. Ambani also announced a ‘free welcome offer’ for Jio customers from September 5 till December 31.

R-Jio will offer users data services free for four months, after which it will offer 10 tariff plans starting at R19 a day for occasional users. For low data users, tariff will be at Rs 149 a month and Rs 4,999 a month for heavy data users. “If you use more data, it will go down to Rs 25 per GB,” said Ambani.

The pricing, which analysts are terming as a “knockout punch” are estimated to be as low as one-tenth of the prevailing data rates.

Devoting an hour of his speech at the RIL’s 42nd Annual General Meeting, the industrialist said Jio is targeting 100 million users. These tariff plans would come into effect after December 31, 2016.

Telecom shares came under heavy selling pressure. Bharti Airtel with a plunge of 6.37 per cent to Rs 310.70 was the worst hit from the Sensex pack. Idea Cellular tanked 10.48 per cent to Rs 83.70 — its 52-week low on the BSE.

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