Reliance Jio has always been aggressive in the prepaid segment when it comes to tariff plans. The company has been leading the chart with its affordable prepaid plans since January 2018. However, with the recent developments like the introduction of All-in-One recharges and IUC vouchers, Jio's prepaid plans seem like losing the charm which they are known for as rival telcos are providing equal or even better plans in the similar price range. We have recently said that Vodafone has a Rs 229 prepaid plan that offers exactly similar benefits as the Jio All-in-One Rs 222 recharge. And there's Airtel's Rs 558 plan that ships with a whopping data benefit which none of Jio's prepaid plans can compete right now.
Number of Offerings Across Different Price Ranges
Now it is agreeable that Reliance Jio has a pretty appealing and robust portfolio of prepaid recharges. However, there is one difference that we get to see between the prepaid portfolio of Reliance Jio and other telcos like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, and that has to do with the availability of recharges in a particular price range.
While most users these days use data, some would only like to use calling services with a little bit of data lying around in their accounts in case they need to use it somewhere. However, in case of Reliance Jio, it is hardly possible since all the recharges that Reliance Jio offers bundle at least 1.5GB data per day. In the case of other telcos like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, the subscribers get the option of plans which offer data for the entire validity period along with free calling and other benefits.
For example, in Bharti Airtel’s portfolio, we will find plans like Rs 597 prepaid plan which bundles 6GB data along with unlimited local, STD and roaming calls with 168 days validity. This way, users get an affordable calling solution for the long-term. Similarly, there is another Rs 998 prepaid plan of Airtel and Vodafone Idea’s Rs 999 and Rs 599 plans. Whereas for Reliance Jio subscribers, it will be hard to find any option like this and the long-term plan they can avail would run beyond Rs 400. There are plans of Rs 999 and Rs 1,999 from Reliance Jio offering benefits for 90 days and 180 days respectively, but they are nowhere close to the validity offered by incumbent telcos.
This is not only true for voice-oriented offerings but in general, subscribers of Airtel or Vodafone Idea would easily find recharge plans in any range according to their liking, whereas, in case of Reliance Jio, the customers would have to make do with the slightly limited choices.
Then we have the All-in-One recharges from Reliance Jio which almost lose the battle to Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel. For example, Vodafone has Rs 229 prepaid recharge which offers 2GB daily data, 100 SMSes per day and unlimited voice calling for 28 days, pretty much similar to Jio's Rs 222 recharge. Airtel also has a Rs 558 recharge that ships with 3GB daily data as opposed to Jio's Rs 555 prepaid plan which focusses on non-Jio voice calling.
Additional Benefits
There is also the new trend of offering freebies which is working in favour of other private telcos. Bharti Airtel has also launched plans which bundle attractive offers like Rs 299 prepaid plan with Amazon Prime, or the prepaid plan offering term insurance. There are other benefits for prepaid plan users like Norton Mobile Security, among others. These are some of the advantages which are making Airtel prepaid plans appear more attractive to the users as compared to Reliance Jio. In such a scenario, it can be said that Reliance Jio prepaid plans might now be losing their charm as compared to the prepaid plans being offered by Vodafone Idea or Bharti Airtel.
Reliance Jio has been aggressive in the prepaid segment, at least until now. But the company will soon lose the battle to Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel as the two telcos are ramping up their offerings in the industry. It will be interesting to see how Reliance Jio reacts to this threat from both the telcos.
