Reliance Jio has now discounted its yearly prepaid plan of Rs 2,199 and started offering the same benefits at Rs 2,020 on the occasion of New Year. When incumbent telcos- Vodafone and Bharti Airtel announced their revised prepaid recharges earlier this month, Jio had an upper hand thanks to the slight edge on the pricing front. However, Airtel and Vodafone Idea removed the FUP voice calling limit on off-net voice calls which has put Jio in the back foot. Jio's prepaid plans are still affordable in the industry and are probably the cheapest ones between the private telecom operators. Nevertheless, Jio is losing the battle with the voice calling cap on off-net calls. Even the discounted yearly plan of Rs 2,020 comes with 12,000 non-Jio minutes for an entire year which is underwhelming.
Jio Rs 2,020 Annual Prepaid Plan: What it Offers to the Users?
For nearly three years now, Reliance Jio dominated the prepaid segment with its affordable and best plans, however, the domination is going down slowly as the telco starts charging for off-net voice calls. Reliance Jio has discounted its Rs 2,198 yearly prepaid plan on the occasion of New Year 2020 and the users can now avail it for Rs 2,020 for a limited period.
The benefits of the Rs 2,020 Jio prepaid recharge include unlimited Jio to Jio voice calls, 12,000 non-Jio minutes, 1.5GB data per day and 100 SMSes per day for 365 days. Jio users will also get free access to Jio apps like JioTV, JioCinema and so on. There's no doubt that this is the best annual prepaid recharge after BSNL's Rs 1,699 and Rs 1,999 plans, however, Jio is still lagging behind the private telcos.
So for an entire year, Jio users will be able to make non-Jio voice calls of 12,000 minutes or 200 hours, after which the telco will start charging them six paise per minute. Trai recently announced that it would stick with the current IUC regime of six paise per minute for another year, so Jio will most likely keep charging the users the same till the end of 2020.
At Rs 2,199, Jio was already in the back foot and the company wants to have some damage control by offering the plan at Rs 2,020. For the unaware, there's no FUP limit for voice calls on Airtel and Vodafone Idea networks which is making Jio customers port out from the network for the first time in three years.
Airtel and Vodafone Idea Yearly Prepaid Plans Detailed
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea hiked the prepaid tariff prices earlier this month by up to 40%. The Rs 1,699 yearly prepaid plan from both the telcos now cost Rs 2,398 and Rs 2,399, respectively. The benefits of both plans remain the same. Airtel and Vodafone Idea are shipping unlimited voice calls to any network within India without any FUP limit, 100 SMSes per day and 1.5GB data per day. Airtel users get free access to Wynk Music, Airtel Xstream app Premium membership, Rs 100 cashback on FASTag and free four-week course on Shaw Academy. Vodafone Idea customers get free Vodafone Play subscription and Idea Movies & TV app membership.
Compared to Jio's yearly plan of Rs 2,020, Airtel and Vodafone Idea's yearly prepaid plans without any FUP limit on off-net calling provide better value for money, at least customers can consume voice calls without the worry of FUP exhaust.
