Reliance Jio could extend its freebies with nominal charges till June’17

Looks like, after all, the hoopla and excitement around its freebies, Reliance Jio is finding itself in a fix as to how to retain its existing subscribers once all the offers and discounts end in March. After announcing an additional investment to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore to improve its network coverage and capacity, the telecom operator now plans to introduce new plans for voice and data services at a nominal rate until June this year, reports Economic Times.

Though up till now, Jio was offering free voice calls and data services to its users, as per the new plan, the company could charge about Rs 100 for data with free voice calls and SMS after March, commencing the revenue generation for the telco as well.

Though Reliance Jio has already garnered a user base of more than 72 million but according to multiple surveys, Jio SIM is being used as an add-on to users’ existing network and hasn’t substituted it. This means that Jio’s user-base may touch the 100 million mark by March end but will not last long once the company starts charging for its services.

Thus, the company needs to quickly find ways to address this issue. With incumbents already offering cheaper plans and packs, Jio will have to work on two fronts simultaneously- one, revise its packs and second, improve its network coverage and call drop issues.

Reliance Jio was launched last year on September 5, ensuring a price war among incumbents who started slashing prices of their existing packs to retain their user base in the face of Jio storm. But Jio’s connectivity issues and call drops haven’t allowed the telco to become the primary network for its users and the telecom operator runs the risk of losing them if it increases its rates significantly.