Reliance Jio has begun a price war: How its rates compares to other telcos'

Jio's tariff will range from Rs 19 for the occasional data user to Rs 4,999 for heavy users.

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After years of waiting, Reliance has finally announced the pricing for Jio. Touted to be the country’s largest 4G network, Mukesh Ambani announced the details of the venture at the 42nd annual general meeting of Reliance Industries Limited.

The network will become operational from September 5, but commercial operations will begin only on December 31.

At the AGM, Mukesh Ambani revealed that Jio’s mobile data charges will be as low as Rs. 25-50 per GB, which are the lowest in the world and a fraction – between one-fifth and one-tenth – of what Indian operators now offer.

Charges will range from Rs 19 for the occasional data user to Rs 4,999 for heavy users.

All calls will be free for data users as they will not be charged for voice calls if they use data.

Here are more details.

So how do Jio’s rates compare with other players?

BSNL charges Rs. 198 for 1GB of data.

In a statement earlier this month, Idea stated that it is now offering “10GB 4G, 3G data pack for just Rs. 990. Idea's 2GB data is now priced at just Rs. 349, as against the earlier price of Rs. 449. Idea users will now get 5GB of 4G, 3G data at just Rs. 649.”

In anticipation of Jio’s rock-bottom rates, Airtel had recently slashed its prepaid data tariff by 80%. Under the mega-saver pack for Rs. 1498, 1GB of data would be given for 28 days, and each extra GB would cost Rs. 51. Under the Rs 748 pack, each extra GB would be for Rs 99. Airtel had also slashed its corporate rates to Rs 99.5 per GB.

Vodafone also slashed its rates in early August. It offered 5GB data for Rs 650 per month, 3GB data for Rs 449 a month and 10 GB data for Rs 999 a month.

In comparison, Jio offers far cheaper offers for mobile data usage.

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