3 reasons why you should stick to Jio even after March 31
March 31 marks the end of "free Jio" era. Even though the Jio welcome offer ended on March 1, the Mukesh Ambani-led telecom company has done its best to give subscribers enough free offers (that are rather enticing) to retain them.
Of course, during the course (while trying to become the go-to brand for 4G in India through freebies and offers) Jio managed to trigger a price-war in the telecom industry. Everyone — from Vodafone to Idea and Airtel — slashed their prices, formed mergers and tried their best to bleed each other dry.
Perhaps Jio should have concentrated on trying to make better use of its resources. Because it still lags behind in terms of good coverage and there still are numerous complaints of call drops. It’s not like the other telecom giants are light years ahead of Jio in these areas, but they have the advantage of a brand value and goodwill built over the years.
But despite all its flaws, it still makes sense to stick to Jio.
1) It changed the telecom game
Before September 2016, the telecom industry was in a rut of sorts. The giants in the industry behaved in an almost cartel-like manner, rarely seeking innovation or giving customers competitive prices. Jio was a disruption of gargantuan proportions. Thanks to Jio’s arrival and free offers, all telecom companies started slashing prices and gave into providing equally competitive prices, despite the fact that even Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal once dubbed Jio’s tariff plan as very aggressive and unsustainable.
Recently, Airtel announced that it will no longer charge for domestic roaming, starting April 1, and will reduce international roaming charges by up to 90 per cent. Additionally, Airtel is offering data at cheaper rates, slashing prices up to 80 per cent.
Idea too has introduced a new pack which offers 14 GB of 4G data along with unlimited calls for Rs 345/month to compete with Jio Prime's Rs 303/month and Rs 499/month plans, which offer users 1GB 4G data/day and 2GB 4G data/day, respectively.
Even Vodafone launched a new plan that offers unlimited calls/SMS + 1GB 4G data/day at Rs 346/month. And while Jio's great offers are only for Prime subscribers, Vodafone is all-inclusive.
Jio, thanks to the tenacity of Mukesh Ambani, is likely to continue making ripples in the telecom sphere. It’s always a good idea to back the underdog with potential of this magnitude.
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2) Jio is battling to take us into the 5G era
Samsung, the South Korean tech giant, on February 28, announced the "I&G (Infill & Growth) Project" for Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd that aims to expand both current network capacity as well as network coverage. The project will extend Jio services in rural areas by expanding its reach to over 90 per cent of the population.
"The massive deployment of over a million cells across India is especially remarkable. We will strive to create new paradigms for long-term evolution (LTE) -advanced pro and 5G by closely cooperating with Jio as a unified workforce," said Youngky Kim, president and head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics, according to an India Today report.
Yes, India is still struggling to improve network coverage and is just beginning to dabble with the concept of 4G. But it is always a good sign when a telecom giant knows the industry’s trajectory in the future and plans ahead.
3) Free Prime even after March 31
Once the Prime window ends, customers would have to pay Rs 99 a month to avail the offers under it. But there’s a really easy way to avoid doing that altogether.
For customers who want to avail Prime rates, all they have to do is recharge using Jio money. Under a new offer, Jio is giving a Rs 50 cashback on every recharge you do using your Jio Money. So, if you pay for your Prime subscription (Rs 99) through Jio Money, you will get a cashback of Rs 50. Post that when you recharge your prime plan (Rs 303), using Jio Money of course, you will once again receive a Rs 50 cashback. In total you receive Rs 100 cashback which covers your Rs 99 Prime membership fee.
In the wake of Jio Prime's Rs 303/month offer, Vodafone launched a new pack which offers the same benefits at Rs 346/month. Where Vodafone managed to go ahead of Jio is the fact that while the latter's offer is only available for "Prime" customers, the former did not have any such restriction.
Vodafone's masterstroke was inclusiveness. But that no longer seems to be an issue. As long as you use Jio Money to recharge your phone, you don’t have to worry about having to purchase the Prime subscription.