Reliance Jio effect: Airtel slashes 4G data prices by 80pc

Reliance Jio’s fourth-generation (4G) wireless services have not yet been officially launched in the country but are already causing a lot of turbulence in the market. After announcing increased data benefits by up to 67 percent, country's biggest telecom Bharti Airtel, has now slashed the prices of data for 3G and 4G mobile Internet services, which it claims will result in up to 80 percent savings for customers, all thanks to Mukesh Ambani’s telecom venture Jio.

Last week, Reliance made its SIM cards available to a wider range of smartphones, driving thousands of people to que outside Reliance Digital and other retail stores.

Carriers like Airtel and Idea accuse Reliance of falsely claiming that it is in testing mode and using that as an alibi to offer free services, when, in fact, it is now in business. As a result, the telcos allege, their customers are being poached and the government is being gypped of its share of revenue from Reliance’s use of valuable airwaves or spectrum. Reliance has threatened to sue Airtel and the others over those charges.

With the new pricing, 1 GB of data on Airtel will cost Rs. 51, down from Rs. 259. Terms and conditions include signing up for a 12-month package with a Rs. 1,498 fee upfront, which includes 1 GB of initial data.

The offer is available only to prepaid users, and existing customers can switch to it by performing a Rs. 1,498 recharge. Another package with Rs. 748 payment upfront, will reduce the data cost to Rs. 99 per GB for six months.