Mukesh Ambani on Thursday broke open the widely-awaited details of his Reliance Jio venture, billed as the country’s largest 4G network. Long queues of customers recently waiting to get a Jio SIM card have demonstrated the hype and anticipation around the newest offering from Reliance Industries.
Ambani, 59, made these announcements:
Reliance Jio will not charge for voice calls or for roaming calls within India. Customers should be charged for voice or data, but not both, said Ambani.
Reliance Jio’s data prices are roughly one-fifth of what customers have been charged so far - one gigabyte of data will cost Rs 50.
Jio will not follow the industry practice of blackout days - occasions like Diwali when free SMS offers are not applicable because the volume tends to be too high.
Starting Monday, anyone can sign up for Reliance Jio services - and no charges will apply till December 31.
Competitors have complained that Jio, while claiming to be in beta phase, has used scarce fourth-generation of 4G airwaves to poach customers by offering them free-of-cost trials.