Reliance Jio Infocomm today said it will stop its free mobile data services to 4G subscribers from April 1, 2017.
The existing 4G subscribers can take Prime Membership for a life-time fee of Rs 99 in order to enjoy unlimited data services for Rs 303 per month for the next 12 months. All the customers of Jio 4G will continue to get free voice and roaming services across the country.
Reliance Jio, which added 100 million 4G subscribers in 170 days, said it achieved a record addition of 7 new mobile subscribers per second. “This is the fastest achieved by any start-up technology company in the world including the likes of Facebook, WhatsApp and Skype,” said Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries (RIL).
Jio’s app Jio4GVoice and its Jiofy Wifi devices are enabling 3G and 2G smartphone users to enjoy 4G voice and data without making investment in a new handset.
Reliance Jio customers consumed 100 crore GB of data per month and 200 crore voice and video minutes a day.
Jio has become the largest network in the world in terms of data carried and contributed to India becoming the leading country in the world for mobile data usage.
Jio users are today consuming nearly as much data as the USA and 50 percent more data than China, said Mukesh Ambani.
Mukesh Ambani said the Jio 4G network has 2x the number of 4G base stations as compared to all the other Indian operators put together. Jio will expand 4G network to nearly all the cities, towns and villages of India covering 99 percent of our country’s population by the end of 2017.
Jio announced that its tariff plans will become applicable from 1 April 2017. Jio’s tariff plans range from Rs 149 to Rs 4,999 for long-term plans.
Question mark on voice quality
Several consumers are complaining about the poor quality voice services from Reliance Jio. Jio has always tried to establish that the poor quality voice service was due to lack of support from operators such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone. According to Jio, these GSM operators did not provide enough PoIs to Reliance Jio.
Can Jio retain 100 million and grow further
Several 4G mobile phone customers are not happy with the Reliance 4G network because they were anticipating superior network across the country. Most of the time, Reliance Jio network does not work in several indoor locations and when customers are on the move. This is especially rampant during train journeys.
Mobile customers say there is difference between Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel or BSNL or Idea. However, these customers consumed data for watching videos and other live video programs thanks to the free offer from Jio.
Baburajan K
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