Does Reliance Jio Live up to its Promise of Data-Giri?

Reliance Jio will hit markets with free voice calling, roaming and messages, and low data tariffs.

Initial reactions to the Jio announcements have focused mainly on how it could disrupt the market. (Photo: The Quint)

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio is set to spark off a price war in the telecom sector by promising to offer data services at the cheapest rates across the world.

Reliance Jio will hit the markets on 5 September with free voice calling, free roaming, free messages and lower data tariffs, Ambani promised at Reliance Industries Ltd.’s annual general meeting on Thursday.

We Indians have come to appreciate and applaud Gandhigiri. Now we can all do ‘Data-giri’, which is an opportunity for every Indian to do unlimited good things, with unlimited data.

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and MD, RIL

But are Jio’s data plans really that good?

BloombergQuint’s Aayush Ailawadi analysed a host of plans available in the market and found that while Jio’s high-end data packages are a lot cheaper than those offered by its competitors, its beginner’s plan does not offer great “bang for the buck”.

Romal Shetty, head of telecom practice at KPMG agreed. Shetty pointed out that Jio’s minimum data pack, which offers 0.3 gigabytes for Rs 149, may not be a great buy. If a customer throws in another Rs 50, they could get access to 1 gigabyte of data for Rs 200, which is the average industry price, he said.

Read the full BloombergQuint report here.