A day following the spectrum auctions, Reliance Jio has taken the lead in hiking mobile services tariff by announcing 12.5-25 per cent tariff hikes across most of its plans. Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel are also expected to follow suit to raise tariffs soon. Tariff hikes across the telecom industry were expected after the elections as operators look to ramp up their revenues to tide over mounting debt.
In line with its commitment to strengthen a sustainable telecom industry, Jio announced its new unlimited plans.
Jio’s lowest plan at ₹155 a month for 2 GB data saw a 20 per cent hike, while on the high-end the tariff went up by 12.5 per cent. This could dampen consumer demand particularly for the people on the economic margins as their demand is not necessarily elastic.
Speaking on the occasion, Sh. Akash M Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, commented, “The introduction of new plans is a step in the direction of furthering industry innovation and driving sustainable growth through investments in 5G and AI technology. Ubiquitous, high-quality, affordable internet is the backbone of Digital India and Jio takes pride in contributing to this. Jio will always put our country and customers first and will continue to invest in India.”
Despite claiming to have a pan India 5G network, Jio did not include a differentially priced 5G plan. It noted unlimited 5G will be automatically available on all 2GB/day and above plans. With no distinct use-cases for 5G there is no distinct consumer demand for 5G-only plans yet
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