Postpaid Data Tariff War Expected to Become a Bloodbath After Jio Introduces Rs 199 Plan

The telecom battle for tariffs has heated up too quickly especially after Reliance Jio introduced its postpaid plan of Rs 199 on May 15. The plan which is offering 25GB of 4G data along with unlimited voice and SMS also ships attractive international calling rates. This plan has been deemed to be just half of what the other telcos were offering in terms of price. The pre-activated international calling starts at 50 paise per minute in this plan. In this new plan by Reliance Jio, the telco is offering international roaming (without special packs) in two slots. The first one being Rs 2 per minute on calling, per MB of data and per SMS, and Rs 10 for each minute, MB and SMS. Reliance Jio is popularly calling these two services as the 2-2-2 and the 10-10-10 offer.

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While other telcos like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India also offer postpaid plans, their plans have been priced at Rs 399. Also, these plans require a separate fee from the users to activate international calling. With such competitive pricing, Reliance Jio is likely to affect the postpaid data tariff war significantly, but incumbents are yet to react to this plan from Jio.

Postpaid Statistics
According to the previous statistics, only 5% of the total consumer base in the telecom industry is made up of postpaid users. However, this 5% of the total base accounts for 25% of revenue for the telcos. In the past, telcos have resorted to cutting down of prices in order to acquire or retain customers in their company. Even then, the average revenue per user (ARPU) in the country has taken a dip.