Jio too bites the price hike bullet - Spikes prepaid plans cost up to 21%

Reliance Jio
(Image credit: Jio)

Recently, telco giants like Airtel and Vodafone Idea came up with new plan prices for their prepaid customers in India. The companies had increased the prices of the plans by 20-25% in order to scale up and provide better services to the customers. Now, Jio has also joined the bandwagon and it has announced a hike in its prepaid plans' prices. 

All the prepaid plans, including JioPhone plans, data add-ons, and unlimited plans, will be available at 19.6% to 21.3% higher than the older ones. As stated by Jio, the new rates for the prepaid plans will be effective from December 1, 2021. 

Reliance Jio has also said that the company will focus on delivering the best quality service at the lowest global price for the plans. Considering the rate change percentage, Jio plans are still cheaper than both VI and Airtel.

The basic Rs 75 JioPhone plan by Jio that offers 3GB data in a month along with unlimited voice calls and 50 SMS will not be available at a price of Rs 91. The Rs 149 plan offering 1GB data per day with other benefits like unlimited voice calling and 100 SMS per day will now be available at a price of Rs 179. Both the mentioned plans offer 28 days validity. 

Talking about the long-term plans, the prepaid plan offering 1.5 GB data per day, unlimited voice calls, and 100 SMS per day with 84 days validity will now be available at Rs 666 instead of Rs 555. Another plan offering the same perks along with 2GB data per day, previously available at 599, will now be available at a price of Rs 719. 

A considerable price change can be witnessed in the yearly plan as before the price hike, Jio offered 2GB data per day, unlimited voice, and 100 SMS per day for 365 days will now be available at a price of Rs 2,399 instead of Rs 2,879. 

Jio vs Airtel vs VI - Pre-paid plan comparison

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Jio, Airtel, VI - New pre-paid plan prices
PlansValidityJio PricesVI PricesAirtel Prices
1GB/day, unlimited voice, 100 SMS/day28 daysRs 179Rs 269Rs 265
1.5GB/day, unlimited voice, 100 SMS/day28 daysRs 239Rs 299Rs 299
2GB/day, unlimited voice, 100 SMS/day28 daysRs 299Rs 359Rs 359
1.5GB/day, unlimited voice, 100 SMS/day56 daysRs 479Rs 479Rs 479
6GB, unlimited voice, 1000 SMS or 100 SMS/day84 daysRs 395Rs 459Rs 455
1.5GB/day, unlimited voice, 100 SMS/day84 daysRs 666Rs 719Rs 719
2GB/day, unlimited voice, 100 SMS/day84 daysRs 719Rs 839Rs 839
24GB, unlimited voice, 100 SMS/day365 days/336 days In JioRs 1559Rs 1799Rs 1799
2GB/day(1.5GB/day in Vodafone), unlimited voice, 100 SMS/day365 daysRs 2879Rs 2999Rs 2899

Jio, for a long time, had an upper hand over its competitors like Airtel and VI since its launch. Having a look at the current hike, it can still be seen that Jio is offering data, unlimited calls, and a fixed amount of SMS every day in bundled packs at lower prices. In terms of the user base, Jio is way ahead of both Vodafone Idea and Airtel, with 42.48 crore subscribers. 

None of the telecom giants has been able to surpass Jio completely in the last few years. However, it would be interesting to see how Airtel and VI are going to use the increased ARPU with new services and to lure new users.  

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Nishit Rudra Raghuwanshi
Gadgets & Appliances Analyst

A career journalist who spent three years playing around with smartphones, associated apps and home appliances. As a hobby, Rudra enjoys researching mobile games. When he's not busy in the world of gadgets, Rudra is busy with a paper and pen writing poems or engaging with his growing digital audience on the Hindi rap circuit.