Reliance Jio created a big revolution in the telecom industry when it launched its operations by offering free unlimited data to all the customers. This made the company a huge hit and people were even ready to stand in queues for hours to get a Jio sim. One thing to note is that Jio has started its telecom operations only on its 4G network so the customers would not get 2G or 3G services like standard voice calls. The customers would need a VoLTE (Voice over LTE) ready phones to make phone calls on Jio network.
Although, Reliance Jio had a limitation of operating on 4G only phones(preferably Volte phones), it made a reverse effect on the mobile industry where the sales of the 4G Volte ready phones saw a huge jump. Reliance Jio also launched their own 4G Volte smartphones at lower prices starting at 2,999. To be fair, this phones were mostly used to create hotspot, so that people can use the Jio 4G data. All in all, this created a havoc in the telecom industry with the well-established operators like Vodafone and Airtel who had also launched their 4G services in India to lower their data rates.
Reliance Jio last month made an announcement that it’s free services are ending wherein they offered Unlimited Data, Unlimited Voice Calls & SMS on 31st March. Instead, they have launched a Jio Prime plan. This plan offers Unlimited Data, Voice Calls and SMS for Rs.303/month. The plan includes 1GB 4G data/day and Unlimited everything else. Relaince Jio has also promised that the data used in the voice calls would not count against the 1GB data limit. Now, both the major telecom operators,Vodafone and Airtel have launched their 4G plans which compete directly with Reliance Jio at a similar price.
| Reliance Jio 4G | Vodafone 4G | Airtel 4G | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voice Calls | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Data | 28 GB | 28 GB | 28 GB |
| Validity | 28 Days | 28 Days | 28 Days |
| Data Limit | 1GB/Day | 1GB/Day | 500 Mb/Day and 500 Mb/Night |
| Offer period ends on | 31st March | 15th March | |
| Subscription fee | 99/- | Free | Free |
| Price | 303/- per month | 346/- per month | 345/- per month |
| SMS | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Roaming | Free | Free | Free |
Apart from the above mentioned price of Jio 4G prime plan where a user has to pay a one-time fee of 99/- to enroll in the Jio Prime plans, Jio also offers other regular plans. One thing to note is that Reliance Jio offers Unlimited Voice Calls & SMS in each of its plans.
Also worth noting is that, Reliance Jio offers a non-prime plan at the same price of 303/- per month but in this plan, instead of the 1GB/Day in the prime plan, the non-prime plan only offers 2.5 GB per month.
Below given is the list of all the plans offered by Jio 4G and their validity.
| Plans | Rs 19/- | Rs 49/- | Rs 96/- | Rs 149/- | Rs 303/- | Rs 499/- |
| Data | 100 MB | 300 MB | 0.6 GB | 1 GB | 28 GB(prime) | 56 GB(prime) |
| Calls & SMS | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Validity | 1 Day | 3 Days | 7 Days | 28 Days | 28 Days | 28 Days |
All the above plans that Jio offers are 4G plans and validity of upto 28 Days. There are also some higher plans from Jio priced at Rs 999, Rs 1999, Rs 4999, Rs 9999. This plans have validity of 60 days, 90 days, 180 days and 360 days respectively. This plans from Jio are useful for broadband connections which have higher validity period.
Vodafone, one of the top cellular network companies in India had to counter the pricing war started by Reliance Jio to offer reasonable 4G plans at the similar price to maintain company’s loyal customer base. Vodafone has now introduced a 4G plan of Rs 342/- or Rs 346/- per month (Validity:28 Days) as part of Vodafone’s “Welcome Back” offer. This plan is similar to Jio’s plan in terms of validity and data offered. Vodafone’s plan include 1GB data per night and 1Gb data per night.
Also if the customers enroll in this offer by doing the recharge of this amount, those customers are eligible for this offer for the next 11 months. The offer to enroll in this program is valid only till 15th March,2017. One thing to note is that Vodafone doesn’t offer free Voice Calls and SMS with the recharge of this plans, This plans only include data and doesn’t offer any talktime.
Airtel, trying to maintain its share in the telecom market, introduced a plan similar to Vodafone and Reliance Jio. Airtel has launched a prepaid plan of Rs 345/- where on the recharge of this specified amount, the customers will get 1GB data per day resulting in 28 GB data per month. But, the difference here is that, Airtel offers 1GB data per day with a restriction.
The restriction here is that, Airtel customers can only use 500 Mb 4G data per day and 500 Mb4G data at night. The night data can be used from 12am to 6am. Similar to Vodafone and Reliance Jio, Airtel guarantees that the customers who enroll in this plan till 31st March will be able to use this plans for the next 11 months.
