Reliance Jio Infocomm has extended the deadline for Prime membership drive to April 15 from March 31 to manage more demand from 4G customers for the special voice and data offers.

Reliance Jio Infocomm, an all-India 4G operator, said over 72 million Jio customers have signed up for Jio Prime membership in one month. Jio Prime membership enables its 100 million free subscribers to get special offers for the next 12 months including 1 GB per day and free voice, roaming for Rs 303 per month.

Jio booms in India

# Jio adds 72 mn paid subscribers
# Jio extends Prime membership drive to April 15
# Jio to continue free services till June end for Prime members
# Jio to add more cell towers

“Considering the unprecedented demand for enrolling to Jio Prime and doing the first recharge, Jio has extended the deadline for purchasing Jio’s Rs 303 and other plans till April 15,” said Jio in a statement.

There were speculative reports in media stating that Reliance Jio is not getting enough response for shifting to the paid service. The extension by 15 days will provide the necessary breathing room for users to avoid service disruption during the transition from free to paid services.

Jio also announced the Jio Summer Surprise for its Jio Prime members.

Every Jio Prime member, when they make their first paid recharge prior to April 15 using Jio’s Rs 303 plan or any higher value plan, will get services for the initial three months on a complimentary basis. The paid tariff plan will be applied only in July, after the expiry of the complimentary service.

“I want to thank you for choosing Jio, and for being a founding member of the Jio movement. A movement to transform India. A movement to empower and enrich each one of you with the revolutionary power and possibilities of digital life,” said Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani in a letter to the Jio customers.

“Over the past few days, we have been deluged by millions of customers queuing up to purchase Jio’s popular Rs 303 and other tariff plans. This nationwide trend indicates that very many customers are still in the process of purchasing Jio Prime and their first paid tariff plan,” Ambani said.

Reliance Jio, with an investment of nearly $25 billion, has created the world’s largest greenfield 4G LTE wireless broadband network, with over 100,000 mobile towers. With the paid services, Reliance Jio has become the leading 4G operator in India — well ahead of Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India.

Reliance Jio today said it will add another 100,000 telecom towers to its 4G network in the coming months. The telecom operator claimed that this greenfield investment – of over Rs 200,000 crores – is the largest anywhere in the world.

Baburajan K
[email protected]